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THE 


MYTHS  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 


A    TREATISE 


SYMBOLISM  AND  MYTHOLOGY 


RED  RACE  OF  AMERICA 


DANIEL  G.  BEINTON,  A.M.,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  D.Sc. 

PROFESSOR  OF  AMERICAN  ARCHEOLOGY  AND  LINGUISTICS  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  PENNSYLVANIA 


THIRD  EDITION  REVISED 


PHILADELPHIA: 

DAVID  McEAY,  PUBLISHER 
1905 


Copyrighted,  1896,  by  DANIEL  G.  BBTNTON 


SHERMAN  &  Co.,  PRINTERS 

PHILADELPHIA 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


I  HAVE  written  this  work  more  for  the  thoughtful 
general  reader  than  the  antiquary.  It  is  a  study  of 
an  obscure  portion  of  the  intellectual  history  of  our 
species  as  exemplified  in  one  of  its  varieties. 

What  are  man's  earliest  ideas  of  a  soul  and  a  God, 
and  of  his  own  origin  and  destiny  ?  Why  do  we  find 
certain  myths,  such  as  of  a  creation,  a  flood,  an  after- 
world;  certain  symbols,  as  the  bird,  the  serpent,  the 
cross;  certain  numbers,  as  the  three,  the  four,  the 
seven — intimately  associated  with  these  ideas  by  every 
race?  What  are  the  laws  of  growth  of  natural  reli- 
gions ?  How  do  they  acquire  such  an  influence,  and 
is  this  influence  for  good  or  evil?  Such  are  some  of 
the  universally  interesting  questions  which  I  attempt 
to  solve  by  an  analysis  of  the  simple  faiths  of  a  savage 
race. 

If  in  so  doing  I  succeed  in  investing  with  a  more 
general  interest  the  fruitful  theme  of  American  eth- 
nology, my  objects  will  have  been  accomplished. 

PHILADELPHIA,  1868. 


(v) 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION. 


THE  present  edition  has  been  subjected  to  a  thorough 
revision,  much  of  the  text  having  been  rewritten  and 
about  fifty  pages  of  new  matter  added. 

The  most  important  contributions  to  native  Ameri- 
can mythology  which  have  been  published  since  the 
appearance  of  the  second  edition  have  been  consulted 
and  will  be  found  mentioned  in  the  notes. 

While  this  study  of  the  latest  writers  was  necessary, 
in  order  that  the  work  should  represent  the  present 
condition  of  the  science,  the  earliest  authorities  on  the 
myths  and  customs  of  tribes  have  been  constantly 
preferred,  as  in  later  days  there  has  been  a  certain 
though  often  unconscious  infiltration  of  European  ideas 
and  influences  into  the  native  mind. 

Many  of  the  opinions  concerning  the  red  race  and 
its  religions  advanced  as  novelties  in  the  former  editions 
have  now  been  accepted  by  most  students  of  these 
subjects ;  others  are  still  held  as  doubtful.  It  is  hoped 
that  the  additional  evidence  in  their  favor  presented 
in  the  present  edition  will  win  for  them  also  a  favor- 
able consideration  from  careful  writers. 

PHILADELPHIA,  1896. 

(vii) 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE    I. 

GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS  OP  THE  RED  RACE. 

PAGE 

Natural  religions  the  unaided  attempts  of  man  to  find  out  God, 
modified  by  peculiarities  of  race  and  nation. — The  peculiari- 
ties of  the  red  race  :  1.  Its  languages  unfriendly  to  abstract 
ideas.  Native  modes  of  writing  by  means  of  pictures,  sym- 
bols, objects  and  phonetic  signs.  These  various  methods 
compared  in  their  influence  on  the  intellectual  faculties.  2. 
Its  isolation,  unique  in  the  history  of  the  world.  3.  Beyond 
all  others,  a  hunting  race. — Principal  linguistic  subdivi- 
sions :  1.  The  Eskimos.  2.  The  Athapascas.  3.  The 
Algonkins  and  Iroquois.  4.  The  Apalachian  tribes.  5. 
The  Dakotas.  6.  The  Aztecs.  7.  The  Mayas.  8.  The 
Muyscas.  9.  TheQuichuas.  10.  The  Caribs  and  Tupis.  11. 
The  Araucanians. — General  course  of  migrations. — Age  of 
man  in  America. — Unity  of  type  in  the  red  race. — Mytho- 
logical parallels. — Bibliographical  note  .  .  .  .13 

CHAPTEE    II. 

THE  IDEA  OP  GOD. 

An  intuition  common  to  the  species.— Words  expressing  it  in 
American  languages  derived  either  from  ideas  of  above  in 
space,  or  of  life  manifested  by  breath. — Examples. — No 
conscious  monotheism,  and  but  little  idea  of  immateriality 
discoverable. — Still  less  any  moral  dualism  of  deities,  the 
Great  Good  Spirit  and  the  Great  Bad  Spirit  being  alike 
terms  and  notions  of  foreign  importation  .  .  .  .60 

(ix) 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN  AND  APPLICATION 

PAGE 

The  number  FOUR  sacred  in  all  American  religions,  and  the 
key  to  their  symbolism.— Derived  from  the  CARDINAL 
POINTS.— Appears  constantly  in  government,  arts,  rites,  and 
myths. — The  Cardinal  Points  identified  with  the  Four 
Winds,  who  in  myths  are  the  four  ancestors  of  the  human 
race,  and  the  four  celestial  rivers  watering  the  terrestrial 
Paradise. — Associations  grouped  around  each  Cardinal 
Point. — From  the  number  four  were  derived  the  symbolic 
value  of  the  number  Forty,  the  Sign  of  the  Cross,  the  Sacred 
Tree,  the  ceremonial  circuit,  and  other  symbols  .  .  83 

CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

Relations  of  man  to  the  lower  animals. — Two  of  these,  the 
BIRD  and  the  SERPENT,  chosen  as  symbols  beyond  all  others. 
— The  Bird  throughout  America  the  symbol  of  the  Clouds 
and  Winds. — Meaning  of  certain  species. — The  symbolic 
meaning  of  the  Serpent  derived  from  its  mode  of  locomo- 
tion, its  poisonous  bite,  and  its  power  of  charming. — 
Usually  the  symbol  of  the  Lightning  and  the  Waters. — The 
Rattlesnake  the  symbolic  species  in  America. — The  war 
charm. — The  god  of  riches. — Both  symbols  devoid  of  moral 
significance 120 

CHAPTER    V. 

THE  MYTHS  OP  WATER,   FIRE,    AND  THE  THUNDER-STORM. 

Water  the  oldest  element. — Its  use  in  purification. — Holy 
water.— The  Rite  of  Baptism.— The  Water  of  Life.— Its 
symbols. — The  Vase. —The  Moon. — The  latter  the  goddess 
of  love  and  agriculture,  but  also  of  sickness,  night,  and  pain. 
— Often  represented  by  a  dog.  —Fire  worship  under  the  form 
of  Sun  worship. — The  perpetual  fire. — The  new  fire. — Burn- 
ing the  dead. — The  worship  of  the  passions,  and  of  the 
reciprocal  principle  of  Nature. — Dualism  of  Deities. — 
American  goddesses. — Phallic  worship  in  America. — Syn- 
thesis of  the  worship  of  Fire,  Water,  and  the  Winds  in  the 


CONTENTS.  XI 

PAGE 

THUNDER-STORM,  personified  as  Haokah,  Tupa,  Catequil, 
Contici,  Heno,  Tlaloc,  Mixcoatl,  and  other  deities,  many  of 
them  triune 144 

CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  BED  RACE. 

Analysis  of  American  culture  myths. — The  Manibozho  or 
Michabo  of  the  Algonkins  shown  to  be  an  impersonation  of 
LIGHT,  a  hero  of  the  Dawn,  and  their  highest  deity. — The 
myths  of  loskeha  of  the  Iroquois,  Viracocha  of  the  Peru- 
vians, and  Quetzalcoatl  of  the  Toltecs  essentially  the  same 
as  that  of  Michabo. — Other  examples. — Ante-Columbian 
prophecies  of  the  advent  of  a  white  race  from  the  east  as 
conquerors. — Rise  of  later  culture  myths  under  similar  forms  191 

CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  MYTHS  OF  THE  CREATION,  THE  DELUGE,  THE  EPOCHS 
OF  NATURE,   AND  THE   LAST  DAY. 

Cosmogonies  usually  portray  the  action  of  the  SPIRIT  on  the 
WATERS.— Those  of  the  Muscogees,  Athapascas,  Quiches, 
Mixtecs,  Iroquois,  Algonkins,  and  others. — The  Flood-Myth 
an  unconscious  attempt  to  reconcile  a  creation  in  time  with 
the  eternity  of  matter. — Proof  of  this  from  American  my- 
thology.— Characteristics  of  American  Flood-Myths. — The 
person  saved  usually  the  first  man. — The  number  seven. — 
Their  Ararats. — The  r61e  of  birds. — The  confusion  of 
tongues. — The  Aztec,  Quiche",  Algonkin,  Tupi,  and  earliest 
Sanscrit  flood-myths. — The  belief  in  Epochs  of  Nature  a 
further  result  of  this  attempt  at  reconciliation. — Its  forms 
among  Peruvians,  Mayas,  and  Aztecs. — The  expectation  of 
the  End  of  the  World  a  corollary  of  this  belief.— Views  of 
various  nations 226 

CHAPTER    VIIL 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN. 

Usually  man  is  the  EARTH-BORN,  both  in  language  and  myths. 
— The  Earth -Mother. —Illustrations  from  the  legends  of  the 
Caribs,  Apalachians,  Iroquois,  Quichuas,  Aztecs,  and  others. 


Xii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

— The  under- world. — Man  the  product  of  one  of  the  primal 
creative  powers,  the  Spirit,  or  the  Water,  in  the  myths  of 
the  Athapascas,  Eskimos,  Moxos,  and  others.— Not  literally 
derived  from  an  inferior  species 257 

CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

Universality  of  the  belief  in  a  soul  and  a  future  state  shown  by 
the  aboriginal  tongues,  by  expressed  opinions,  and  by  sepul- 
chral rites.— The  Seat  of  the  Soul.— The  "name  soul." — 
The  future  world  never  a  place  of  rewards  and  punishments. 
— The  house  of  the  Sun  the  heaven  of  the  red  man.— The 
terrestrial  paradise  and  the  under-world. — Cupay. — Xibalba. 
— Mictlan. — Metempsychosis. — Preservation  of  Bones. — 
Mummies. — Belief  in  a  resurrection  of  the  dead  almost  uni- 
versal   271 

CHAPTEE    X. 

THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

Their  titles. — Practitioners  of  the  healing  art  by  supernatural 
means. — Their  power  derived  from  natural  magic  and  the 
exercise  of  the  clairvoyant  and  mesmeric  faculties. — Exam- 
ples.— Epidemic  hysteria. — Their  social  position.— Their 
duties  as  religious  functionaries. — Terms  of  admission  to  the 
Priesthood. — Inner  organization  in  various  nations. — Their 
esoteric  language  and  secret  societies  .  .  .  .  .  304 

CHAPTEE    XL 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  NATIVE    RELIGIONS  ON  THE 
MOBAL  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  BACK 

Natural  religions  hitherto  considered  of  Evil  rather  than  of 
Good. — Distinctions  to  be  drawn.— Morality  not  derived 
from  religion. — The  positive  side  of  natural  religions  in  in- 
carnations of  divinity. — Examples. — Prayers  as  indices  of 
religious  progress. — Eeligion  and  social  advancement. — 
Conclusion 329 

I.  INDEX  OF  AUTHORITIES 347 

II.  INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS .351 


THE  MYTHS  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS   ON  THE   RED   RACE. 

Natural  religions  the  unaided  attempts  of  man  to  find  out  God, 
modified  by  peculiarities  of  race  and  nation. — The  peculiarities 
of  the  red  race  :  1.  Its  languages  unfriendly  to  abstract  ideas. 
Native  modes  of  writing  by  means  of  pictures,  symbols,  objects, 
and  phonetic  signs.  These  various  methods  compared  in  their 
influence  on  the  intellectual  faculties.  2.  Its  isolation,  unique 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  3.  Beyond  all  others,  a  hunting 
race. — Principal  linguistic  subdivisions  :  1.  The  Eskimos.  2. 
The  Athapascas.  3.  The  Algonkins  and  Iroquois.  4.  The 
Apalachian  tribes.  5.  The  Dakotas.  6.  The  Aztecs.  7.  The 
Mayas.  8.  The  Muyscas.  9.  The  Quichuas.  10.  The  Caribs 
and  Tupis.  11.  The  Araucanians. — General  course  of  migra- 
tions.— Age  of  man  in  America. — Unity  of  type  in  the  red  race. 
— Mythological  parallels. — Bibliographical  note. 

WHEN  Paul,  at  the  request  of  the  philosophers  of 
Athens,  explained  to  them  his  views  on  divine 
things,  he  asserted,  among  other  startling  novelties, 
that  "  God  has  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  the 
earth,  that  they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they 
might  feel  after  him  and  find  him,  though  he  is  not 
far  from  every  one  of  us." 

Here  was  an  orator  advocating  the  unity   of  the 
human  species,  affirming  that  the  chief  end  of  man  is 

(13) 


14      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

to  develop  an  innate  idea  of  God,  and  that  all  reli- 
gions, except  the  one  he  preached,  were  examples  of 
more  or  less  unsuccessful  attempts  to  do  so.  No 
wonder  the  Athenians,  who  acknowledged  no  kinship 
to  barbarians,  who  looked  dubiously  at  the  doctrine  of 
innate  ideas,  and  were  divided  in  opinion  as  to  whether 
their  mythology  was  a  shrewd  device  of  legislators  to 
keep  the  populace  in  subjection,  a  veiled  natural  phi- 
losophy, or  the  celestial  reflex  of  their  own  history, 
mocked  at  such  a  babbler  and  went  their  ways.  The 
generations  of  philosophers  that  followed  them  partook 
of  their  doubts  and  approved  their  opinions,  quite 
down  to  our  own  times. 

But  now,  after  weighing  the  question  maturely,  we 
are  compelled  to  admit  that  the  Apostle  was  not  so 
wide  of  the  mark  after  all— that,  in  fact,  the  latest  and 
best  authorities,  with  no  bias  in  his  favor,  support  his 
position  and  may  almost  be  said  to  paraphrase  his 
words.  For  according  to  a  late  writer  whose  work  is 
still  a  standard  in  the  science  of  ethnology,  the 
severest  and  most  patient  investigations  show  that 
"  not  only  do  acknowledged  facts  permit  the  assump- 
tion of  the  unity  of  the  human  species,  but  this  opinion 
is  attended  with  fewer  discrepancies,  and  has  greater 
inner  consistency  than  the  opposite  one  of  specific 
diversity."1  And  as  to  the  religions  of  heathendom, 
the  view  of  St.  Paul  is  but  expressed  with  a  more 
poetic  turn  by  a  distinguished  philosopher  when  he 
calls  them,  "  not  fables,  but  truths,  though  clothed  in 
a  garb  woven  by  fancy,  wherein  the  web  is  the  notion 

1  Waltz,  Anthropologie  der  Naturvoelker,  i.  p.  266.  The  theory  of 
"monogenism,"  or  the  specific  unity  of  Man,  is  now  adopted  by 
most  anthropologists. 


MEANING  OF  MYTHOLOGY.  15 

of  God,  the  ideal  of  reason  in  the  soul  of  man,  the 
thought  of  the  Infinite." l 

Inspiration  and  science  unite  therefore  to  bid  us  dis- 
miss as  effete  the  prejudice  that  natural  religions 
either  arise  as  the  ancient  philosophies  taught,  or  that 
they  are.  as  the  Dark  Ages  imagined,  subtle  nets  of  the 
devil  spread  to  catch  human  souls.  They  are  rather 
the  unaided  attempts  of  man  to  find  out  God  j  they  are 
the  efforts  of  the  reason  struggling  to  define  the  in- 
finite; they  are  the  expressions  of  that  "yearning 
after  the  gods  "  which  the  earliest  of  poets  discerned  in 
the  hearts  of  all  men. 

Studied  in  this  sense  they  are  rich  in  teachings. 
Would  we  estimate  the  intellectual  and  aesthetic  culture 
of  a  people,  would  we  generalize  the  laws  of  progress, 
would  we  appreciate  the  sublimity  of  Christianity,  and 
read  the  seals  of  its  authenticity :  the  natural  concep- 
tions of  divinity  reveal  them.  No  mythologies  are  so 
crude,  therefore,  none  so  barbarous,  but  deserve  the 
attention  of  the  philosophic  mind,  for  they  are  never 
the  empty  fictions  of  an  idle  fancy,  but  rather  the 
utterances,  however  inarticulate,  of  an  intuition  of 
reason. 

These  considerations  embolden  me  to  approach  with 
some  confidence  even  the  aboriginal  religions  of 
America,  so  often  stigmatized  as  incoherent  fetichisms, 
so  barren,  it  has  been  said,  in  grand  or  beautiful  con- 
ceptions. The  task  bristles  with  difficulties.  Careless- 
ness, prepossessions,  and  ignorance  have  disfigured 
them  with  false  colors  and  foreign  additions  without 
number.  The  first  maxim,  therefore,  must  be  to  sift 

i  Carriere,  Die  Kunst  im  Zusamm&nhang  der  Culturentwickelung, 
i.  p.  66. 


16      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

and  scrutinize  authorities,  and  to  reject  whatever  be- 
trays the  plastic  hand  of  the  European.  For  the 
religions  developed  by  the  Red  Race,  not  those  mixed 
creeds  learned  from  foreign  invaders,  not  the  old 
myths  as  colored  and  shot  with  the  hues  of  Aryan  and 
Semitic  imagery,  are  to  be  the  subjects  of  our  study. 

Then  will  remain  the  formidable  undertaking  of 
reducing  the  authentic  materials  thus  obtained  to 
system  and  order,  and  this  not  by  any  preconceived 
theory  of  what  they  ought  to  conform  to,  but  learning 
from  them  the  very  laws  of  religious  growth  they 
illustrate. 

The  historian  traces  the  birth  of  arts,  science,  and 
government  to  man's  dependence  on  nature  and  his 
fellows  for  the  means  of  self-preservation.  Not  that 
man  receives  these  endowments  from  without,  but  that 
the  stern  step-mother,  Nature,  forces  him  by  threats 
and  stripes  to  develop  his  own  inherent  faculties.  So 
with  religion.  The  idea  of  God  does  not,  and  cannot, 
proceed  from  the  external  world,  but,  nevertheless,  it 
finds  its  historical  origin  also  in  the  desperate  struggle 
for  life,  in  the  satisfaction  of  the  animal  wants  and  pas- 
sions, in  those  vulgar  aims  and  motives  which  possessed 
the  mind  of  the  primitive  man  to  the  exclusion  of 
everything  else. 

There  is  an  ever  present  embarrassment  in  such  in- 
quiries. In  dealing  with  these  matters  beyond  the 
cognizance  of  the  senses,  the  mind  is  forced  to  express 
its  meaning  in  terms  transferred  from  sensuous  percep- 
tions, or  under  symbols  borrowed  from  the  material 
world.  These  transfers  must  be  understood,  these 
symbols  explained,  before  the  real  meaning  of  a  myth 
can  be  reached.  He  who  fails  to  guess  the  riddle  of  the 
sphinx,  need  not  hope  to  gain  admittance  to  the  shrine. 


RELIGIOUS  RITES.  17 

With  delicate  ear  the  faint  whispers  of  thought  must  be 
apprehended  which  prompt  the  intellect  when  it  names 
the  immaterial  from  the  material;  when  it  has  to  seek 
amid  its  concrete  conceptions  for  those  suited  to  convey 
its  abstract  intuitions ;  when  it  chooses  from  the  in- 
finity of  visible  forms  those  meet  to  shadow  forth 
divinity. 

Two  lights  will  guide  us  on  this  venturesome  path. 
Mindful  of  the  watchword  of  inductive  science,  to 
proceed  from  the  known  to  the  unknown,  the  inquiry 
will  first  be  put  whether  the  aboriginal  languages  of 
America  employ  the  same  tropes  to  express  such  ideas 
as  deity,  spirit,  and  soul,  as  our  own  and  kindred 
tongues.  If  the  answer  prove  affirmative,  then  not 
only  have  we  gained  a  firm  foothold  whence  to  survey 
the  whole  edifice  of  their  mythology ;  but  from  an  un- 
expected quarter  arises  evidence  of  the  unity  of  our 
species,  far  weightier  than  any  mere  anatomy  can 
furnish,  evidence  from  the  living  soul,  not  from  the 
dead  body.  True  that  the  science  of  American  lin- 
guistics is  still  almost  in  its  infancy,  and  that  an  ex- 
haustive handling  of  the  materials  it  even  now  offers 
involves  a  more  critical  acquaintance  with  its  innu- 
merable dialects  than  I  possess ;  but  though  the  glean- 
ing be  sparse,  it  is  enough  that  I  break  the  ground. 

Secondly,  religious  rites  are  unconscious  commenta- 
ries on  religious  beliefs.  At  first  they  are  rude  represen- 
tations of  the  supposed  doings  of  the  gods.  The  Indian 
rain-maker  mounts  to  the  roof  of  his  hut,  and  rattling 
vigorously  a  dry  gourd  containing  pebbles,  to  represent 
the  thunder,  scatters  water  through  a  reed  on  the 
ground  beneath,  as  he  imagines  up  above  in  the  clouds 
do  the  spirits  of  the  storm.  Every  spring  in  ancient 
Delphi  was  repeated  in  scenic  ceremony  the  combat  of 
2 


18      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  BED  RACE. 

Apollo  and  the  Dragon,  the  victory  of  the  lord  of 
bright  summer  over  the  demon  of  chilling  winter. 
Thus  do  forms  and  ceremonies  reveal  the  meaning  of 
mythology,  and  the  origin  of  its  fables. 

Let  it  not  be  objected  that  this  proposed  method  of 
analysis  assumes  that  religions  begin  and  develop 
under  the  operation  of  inflexible  laws.  The  soul  is 
shackled  by  no  such  fatalism.  Formative  influences 
there  are.  deep  seated,  far  reaching,  escaped  by  few; 
but  like  those  which  of  yore  astrologers  imputed  to  the 
stars,  they  potently  incline,  they  do  not  coerce.  Lan- 
guage, pursuits,  habits,  geographical  position,  and 
those  subtle  mental  traits  which  make  up  the  character- 
istics of  races  and  nations,  all  tend  to  deflect  from  a 
given  standard  the  religious  life  of  the  individual  and 
the  mass.  It  is  essential  to  give  these  due  weight,  and 
a  necessary  preface  therefore  to  an  analysis  of  the 
myths  of  the  red  race  is  an  enumeration  of  its  pecu- 
liarities, and  of  its  chief  families  as  they  were  located 
when  first  known  to  the  historian. 

Of  all  such  modifying  circumstances  none  has 
greater  importance  than  the  means  of  expressing  and 
transmitting  intellectual  action.  The  spoken  and  the 
written  language  of  a  nation  reveals  to  us  its  prevail- 
ing, and  to  a  certain  degree  its  unavoidable  mode  of 
thought.  Here  the  red  race  offers  a  notable  phenom- 
enon. Scarcely  any  other  trait,  physical  or  mental, 
binds  together  its  scattered  clans  so  unmistakably  as 
this  of  language.  From  the  Frozen  Ocean  to  the  Land 
of  Fire,  with  few  exceptions  the  native  dialects,  though 
varying  endlessly  in  words,  are  alike  in  certain  pecu- 
liarities of  construction,  certain  morphological  fea- 
tures, rarely  found  elsewhere  on  the  globe,  and  nowhere 
else  with  such  persistence. 


INCORPORATIVE  TONGUES.  19 

So  foreign  are  these  traits  to  the  grammar  of  the 
Aryan  tongues  that  it  is  not  easy  to  explain  them  in  a 
few  sentences.  They  depend  on  a  peculiarly  complex 
method  of  presenting  the  relations  of  the  idea  in  the 
word.  This  construction  has  been  called  by  some 
philologists  polysynthesis  ;  but  it  is  better  to  retain  for  its 
chief  characteristic  the  term  originally  applied  to  it  by 
Wilhelm  von  Humboldt,  incorporation  (Einverleibung). 

What  it  is  will  best  appear  by  comparison.  Every 
grammatical  sentence  conveys  one  leading  idea  with  its 
modifications  and  relations.  Now  a  Chinese  would 
express  these  latter  by  unconnected  syllables,  the  pre- 
cise bearing  of  which  could  only  be  guessed  by  their 
position ;  a  Greek  or  a  German  would  use  independent 
words,  indicating  their  relations  by  terminations  mean- 
ingless in  themselves ;  a  Finn  would  add  syllable  after 
syllable  to  the  end  of  the  principal  word,  each  modify- 
ing the  main  idea ;  an  Englishman  gains  the  same  end 
chiefly  by  the  use  of  particles  and  by  position. 

Very  different  from  all  these  is  the  spirit  of  an  incor- 
porative  language.  It  seeks  to  unite  in  the  most  inti- 
mate manner  all  relations  and  modifications  with  the 
leading  idea,  to  merge  one  in  the  other  by  altering  the 
forms  of  the  words  themselves  and  welding  them  to- 
gether, to  express  the  whole  in  one  word,  and  to  banish 
any  conception  except  as  it  arises  in  relation  to 
others.1  Thus  in  many  American  tongues  there  is,  in 

1  The  term  polysynthesis  refers  properly  to  the  external  form  of 
the  expression,  incorporation  to  the  linguistic  process  itself.  Incor- 
poration was  fully  defined  and  illustrated  by  Wilhelm  von  Hum- 
boldt in  his  celebrated  essay  prefixed  to  his  work  on  the  Kawi 
language,  §  17.  It  has  since  been  explained  with  abundant  clear- 
ness by  Steinthal  in  his  Charakterislik  der  Typen  des  Sprachbaues. 
The  assertion  repeatedly  advanced  by  writers  superficially  ac- 


20      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  TEE  RED  RACE. 

fact,  no  word  for  father,  mother,  brother,  but  only  for 
my,  your,  his  father,  etc.  This  has  advantages  and  de- 
fects. It  offers  marvelous  facilities  for  defining  the 
perceptions  of  the  senses  with  accuracy  ;  but  regarding 
everything  in  the  concrete,  it  is  unfriendly  to  the 
nobler  labors  of  the  mind,  to  abstraction  and  generali- 
zation. 

In  the  numberless  changes  of  these  languages,  their 
bewildering  flexibility,  their  variable  forms,  and  their 
rapid  alteration,  they  seem  to  betray  a  lack  of  individ- 
uality, and  to  resemble  the  vague  and  tumultuous 
history  of  the  tribes  who  employ  them.  They  exhibit 
at  times  a  strange  laxity.  It  is  nothing  uncommon  for 
the  two  sexes  to  use  different  names  for  the  same 
object,  and  for  nobles  and  vulgar,  priests  and  people, 
the  old  and  the  young,  nay,  even  the  married  and 
single,  to  observe  what  seems  to  the  European  ear  quite 
different  modes  of  expression.  Their  phonetics  are 
fluctuating,  the  consonantal  sounds  often  alternating 
between  several  which  in  our  tongue  are  clearly  defined. 

Families  and  whole  villages  suddenly  drop  words  and 
manufacture  others  in  their  places  out  of  mere  caprice 
or  superstition,  and  a  few  years'  separation  suffices  to 
produce  a  marked  dialectic  difference ;  though  it  is 
everywhere  true  that  the  basic  radicals  of  each  stock 
and  the  main  outlines  of  its  grammatical  forms  reveal 

quainted  with  the  process  that  it  is  the  same  as  agglutination,  or  a 
form  of  it,  proves  that  they  are  not  familiar  with  the  subject 
Incorporation  may  exist  without  polysynthesis,  as  is  the  case  in 
the  Otomi  and  various  other  American  tongues.  Those  who  would 
pursue  the  question  further  may  consult  my  Essays  of  an  Americanist, 
pp.  328,  sqq ;  and  Heinrich  Winkler,  Zur  Sprachgeschichte,  passim. 
Another  term  for  incorporation,  employed  by  M.  Cuoq,  is  intro- 
eusception.  (Jugement  errone  sur  les  Langues  Sauvages.  2d  Ed. ,  p.  31. ) 


FUNDAMENTAL  MYTHS.  21 

a  surprising  tenacity  in  the  midst  of  these  surface 
changes.  Vocabularies  collected  by  the  earliest  navi- 
gators are  easily  recognized  from  existing  tongues,  and 
the  widest  wanderings  of  vagrant  bands  can  be  traced 
by  the  continued  relationship  of  their  dialects  to  the 
parent  stem. 

In  their  copious  forms  and  facility  of  reproduction 
they  remind  one  of  those  anomalous  animals,  in  whom, 
when  a  limb  is  lopped,  it  rapidly  grows  again,  or  even 
if  cut  in  pieces  each  part  will  enter  on  a  separate  life 
quite  unconcerned  about  his  fellows.  But  as  the  natu- 
ralist is  far  from  regarding  this  superabundant  vitality 
as  a  characteristic  of  a  higher  type,  so  the  philologist 
justly  assigns  these  tongues  a  low  position  in  the  lin- 
guistic scale.  Fidelity  to  form,  here  as  everywhere,  is 
the  test  of  excellence. 

At  the  outset,  we  divine  there  can  be  nothing  very 
subtle  in  the  mythologies  of  nations  with  such  lan- 
guages. Much  there  must  be  that  will  be  obscure, 
much  that  is  vague,  an  exhausting  variety  in  repeti- 
tion, and  a  strong  tendency  to  lose  the  idea  in  the  sym- 
bol. 

What  definiteness  of  outline  might  be  preserved 
must  depend  on  the  care  with  which  the  old  stories  of 
the  gods  were  passed  from  one  person  and  one  gener- 
ation to  another.  The  fundamental  myths  of  a  race 
have  a  surprising  tenacity  of  life.  How  many  centu- 
ries had  elapsed  between  the  period  the  Germanic 
hordes  separated  from  the  Argans  of  Central  Asia,  and 
when  Tacitus  listened  to  their  wild  songs  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine  ?  Yet  we  know  that  through  those  un- 
numbered ages  of  barbarism  and  aimless  roving,  these 
songs,  "their  only  sort  of  history  or  annals,"  says  the 
historian,  had  preserved  intact  the  story  of  Mannus,  the 


22      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

Sanscrit  Manu,  and  his  three  sons,  and  of  the  great  god 
Tuisco,  the  Indian  Dyu.1 

So  much  the  more  do  all  means  invented  by  the  red 
race  to  record  and  transmit  thought  merit  our  careful 
attention.  Few  and  feeble  they  seem  to  us,  mainly 
shifts  to  aid  the  memory.  Of  some  such,  perhaps,  not 
a  single  tribe  was  destitute.  The  tattoo  marks  on  the 
warrior's  breast,  his  string  of  grisly  scalps,  the  bear's 
claws  around  his  neck,  were  not  only  trophies  of  his 
prowess,  but  records  of  his  exploits,  and  to  the  con- 
templative mind  contain  the  rudiments  of  the  benefi- 
cent art  of  letters.  Did  he  draw  in  rude  outline  on  his 
skin  tent  figures  of  men  transfixed  with  arrows  as  many 
as  he  had  slain  enemies,  his  education  was  rapidly  ad- 
vancing. He  had  mastered  the  elements  of  picture 
writing,  beyond  which  hardly  the  wisest  of  his  race  pro- 
gressed. Figures  of  the  natural  objects  connected  by 
symbols  having  fixed  meanings  make  up  the  whole  of 
this  art.  The  relative  frequency  of  the  latter  marks  its 
advancement  from  a  merely  figurative  to  an  ideo- 
graphic notation. 

On  what  principle  of  mental  association  a  given  sign 
was  adopted  to  express  a  certain  idea,  why,  for  in- 
stance, on  the  Chipeway  scrolls  a  circle  means  spirits, 
and  a  horned  snake  life,  it  is  often  hard  to  guess.  The 
difficulty  grows  when  we  find  that  to  the  initiated  the 
same  sign  calls  up  quite  different  ideas,  as  the  subject  of 
the  writer  varies  from  war  to  love,  or  from  the  chase  to 
religion.  The  connection  is  generally  beyond  the 
power  of  divination,  and  the  key  to  ideographic  writ- 
ing once  lost  can  never  be  recovered. 

The  number  of   such   arbitrary   characters  in  the 

1  Grimm,  Geschickte  der  Deutschen  Sprache,  p.  571. 


PICTURE  WRITING.  23 

Chipeway  notation  is  said  to  be  over  two  hundred ; 
but  if  the  distinction  between  a  figure  and  a  symbol 
were  rigidly  applied,  it  would  be  much  reduced.  This 
kind  of  writing,  if  it  deserves  the  name,  was  common 
throughout  the  continent,  and  many  specimens  of  it, 
scratched  on  the  plane  surfaces  of  stones,  have  been  pre- 
served to  the  present  day.  Such  is  the  once  celebrated 
inscription  on  Dighton  Rock,  Massachusetts,  long  sup- 
posed to  be  a  record  of  the  Northmen  of  Vinland ;  such 
are  those  that  mark  the  faces  of  the  cliffs  which  overhang 
the  waters  of  the  Orinoco,  and  those  that  in  Oregon, 
Peru  and  La  Plata  have  been  the  subject  of  much 
curious  speculation.  They  are  alike  the  mute  epitaphs 
of  vanished  generations.1 

I  would  it  could  be  said  that  in  favorable  contrast  to 
our  ignorance  of  these  inscriptions  is  our  comprehen- 
sion of  the  highly  wrought  pictography  of  the  Nahuas 
or  Aztecs.1  No  nation  ever  reduced  it  more  to  a  sys- 
tem. It  was  in  constant  use  in  the  daily  transactions 
of  life.  They  manufactured  for  writing  purposes  a 
thick,  coarse  paper  from  the  leaves  of  the  agave  plant 
by  a  process  of  maceration  and  pressure. 

An  Aztec  book  closely  resembles  one  of  our  quarto 
volumes.  It  is  made  of  a  single  sheet,  twelve  to  fifteen 
inches  wide,  and  often  sixty  or  seventy  feet  long,  and  is 
not  rolled,  but  folded  either  in  squares  or  zigzags  in 
such  a  manner  that  on  opening  it  there  are  two  pages 
exposed  to  view.  Thin  wooden  boards  are  fastened  to 
each  of  the  outer  leaves,  so  that  the  whole  presents  as 
neat  an  appearance,  remarks  Peter  Martyr  as  if  it  had 

1  The  classical  work  on  the  subject  is  Garrick  Mallery,  Picture 
Writing  of  the  American  Indians  (Washington,  1893). 

*  The  Aztecs  and  many  other  tribes  of  Mexico  spoke  the  Nahuatl 
language,  and  hence  are  called  collectively  Nahuas, 


24      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

come  from  the  shop  of  a  skilful  bookbinder.  They 
also  covered  buildings,  tapestries  and  scrolls  of  parch- 
ment with  these  devices,  and  for  trifling  transactions 
were  familiar  with  the  use  of  slates  of  soft  stone  from 
which  the  figures  could  readily  be  erased  with  water.1 
What  is  still  more  astonishing,  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve, in  some  instances,  their  figures  were  not  painted, 
but  actually  printed  with  movable  blocks  of  wood  on 
which  the  symbols  were  carved  in  relief,  though  this 
was  probably  confined  to  those  intended  for  ornament 
only. 

In  these  records  we  discern  something  higher  than  a 
mere  symbolic  notation.  They  contain  the  germ  of  a 
phonetic  alphabet,  and  represent  sounds  of  spoken 
language.  The  symbol  is  often  not  connected  with  the 
idea  but  with  the  word.  The  mode  in  which  this  is 
done  corresponds  precisely  to  that  of  the  rebus.  It  is 
a  simple  method,  readily  suggesting  itself.  In  the 
middle  ages  it  was  much  in  vogue  in  Europe  for  the 
same  purpose  for  which  it  was  chiefly  employed  in 
Mexico  at  the  same  time — the  writing  of  proper  names. 
For  example,  the  English  family  Bolton  was  known  in 
heraldry  by  a  tun  transfixed  by  a  bolt.  Precisely  so  the 
Mexican  emperor  Ixcoatl  is  mentioned  in  the  Aztec 
manuscripts  under  the  figure  of  a  serpent  coatl,  pierced 
by  obsidian  knives  ixtli;  and  Moquauhzoma  by  a 
mouse-trap  montli,  an  eagle  quauhtli,  a  lancet  zo,  and  a 
hand  maitl. 

As  a  syllable  could  be  expressed  by  any  object  whose 
name  commenced  with  it,  as  few  words  can  be  given 
the  form  of  a  rebus  without  some  change,  as  the  figures 
sometimes  represent  their  full  phonetic  value,  some- 

1  Peter  Martyr,  De  Insidisnuper  Eepertis,  p.  354  :  Colon,  1574. 


NATIVE  WRITING.  25 

times  only  that  of  their  initial  sound,  and  as  universally 
the  attention  of  the  artist  was  directed  less  to  the  sound 
than  to  the  idea,  the  didactic  painting  of  the  Mexicans, 
whatever  it  might  have  been  to  them,  is  a  sealed  book 
to  us,  and  must  remain  so  in  great  part.  Moreover,  in 
many  instances  it  is  undetermined  whether  it  should 
be  read  from  the  first  to  the  last  page,  or  vice  versa, 
whether  from  right  to  left  or  from  left  to  right,  from 
bottom  to  top  or  from  top  to  bottom,  around  the  edges 
of  the  page  toward  the  centre,  or  each  line  in  the  oppo- 
site direction  from  the  preceding  one.  There  are  good 
authorities  for  all  these  methods,  and  they  may  all  be 
correct,  for  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  fixed  rule  had 
been  laid  down  in  this  respect.1 

Immense  masses  of  such  documents  were  stored  in 
the  archives  of  ancient  Mexico.  The  historian  Torque- 
mada  asserts  that  five  cities  alone  yielded  to  the  Spanish 
governor  on  one  requisition  no  less  than  sixteen  thou- 
sand volumes  or  scrolls !  Every  leaf  was  destroyed. 
Indeed,  so  thorough  and  wholesale  was  the  destruction 
of  these  memorials  now  so  precious  in  our  eyes  that 
very  few  remain  to  whet  the  wits  of  antiquaries. 

What  there  are,  however,  have  been  diligently  col- 
lected and  published  by  the  interest  of  learned  societies 
and  the  generosity  of  individuals,  so  that  the  student 
has  a  reasonable  apparatus  at  hand  for  his  attention. 

Beyond  all  others  the  Mayas,  resident  on  the  penin- 
sula of  Yucatan  and  in  the  adjacent  parts  of  Central 
America,  seem  to  have  approached  nearest  to  a  definite 
graphic  system.  Several  of  their  books,  written  before 

1  The  principal  recent  authorities  on  the  Mexican  picture  writ- 
ing are  Dr.  E.  Seler,  and  Dr.  Antonio  Pefiafiel.  For  the  earlier 
views  see  Waitz,  Anthropologie  der  Naturvoelker,  Bd.  IV,  p.  173. 


26      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

the  Europeans  invaded  their  country,  have  been  pre- 
served, and  innumerable  inscriptions  on  the  stone 
facades  of  walls,  on  their  pottery,  and  on  wooden 
beams,  remain  to  attest  the  uniformity  of  their  method 
throughout  nearly  the  whole  area  occupied  by  their 
many  affiliated  tribes.  This  native  literature  has  been 
searchingly  analyzed  by  Forstemann,  Seler,  Schellhas, 
Cyrus  Thomas  and  other  scholars,  and  the  results 
though  far  from  exhaustive  are  so  complete  that  the 
general  tenor  and  purpose  of  most  of  such  writings  can 
be  ascertained.  We  do  not  find  a  developed  phonetic 
system  and  yet  one  more  than  pictographic.  The 
figures  are  combinations  of  symbols,  ideograms  and 
phonetic  equivalents,  the  last  mentioned  being  in  suffi- 
ciently large  proportion  to  render  some  knowledge  of 
the  Maya  language  necessary  to  an  interpretation  of 
the  records.1 

In  South  America,  also,  there  is  said  to  have  been  a 
nation  who  cultivated  the  art  of  picture  writing,  the 
Panos,  on  the  river  Ucayale.  A  missionary,  Narcisso 
Gilbar  by  name,  once  penetrated,  with  great  toil,  to  one 
of  their  villages.  As  he  approached  he  beheld  a  ven- 
erable man  seated  under  the  shade  of  a  palm  tree,  with 
a  great  book  open  before  him  from  which  he  was  read- 
ing to  an  attentive  circle  of  auditors  the  wars  and  wan- 
derings of  their  forefathers.  With  difficulty  the  priest 
got  a  sight  of  the  precious  volume,  and  found  it  covered 
with  figures  and  signs  in  marvelous  symmetry  and 

1  An  idea  of  the  zeal  with  which  the  study  of  the  Maya  writing 
has  been  prosecuted  may  be  gained  from  an  examination  of  Dr. 
K.  Haebler's  bibliography  of  it  published  in  the  number  for  De- 
cember, 1895,  of  the  Centralblatt  fur  Sibliothekwesen.  It  mentions 
436  titles  !  For  a  summary  of  the  subject  I  may  refer  to  my  Primer 
of  Mayan  Hieroglyphics.  (Boston,  1895. ) 


QUIPU8.  27 

order.1  No  wonder  such  a  romantic  scene  left  a  deep 
impression  on  his  mind. 

The  Peruvians  adopted  a  totally  different  and  unique 
system  of  records,  that  by  means  of  the  quipu.  This 
was  a  base  cord,  the  thickness  of  the  finger,  of  any  re- 
quired length,  to  which  were  attached  numerous  small 
strings  of  different  colors,  lengths,  and  textures,  vari- 
ously knotted  and  twisted  one  with  another.  Each  of 
these  peculiarities  represented  a  certain  number,  a  qual- 
ity, quantity,  or  other  idea,  but  what,  not  the  most 
fluent  quipu  reader  could  tell  unless  he  was  acquainted 
with  the  general  topic  treated  of.  Therefore,  whenever 
news  was  sent  in  this  manner  a  person  accompanied 
the  bearer  to  serve  as  verbal  commentator,  and  to  pre- 
vent confusion  the  quipus  relating  to  the  various  depart- 
ments of  knowledge  were  placed  in  separate  storehouses, 
one  for  war,  another  for  taxes,  a  third  for  history,  and 
so  forth. 

On  what  principle  of  mnemotechnics  the  ideas  were 
connected  with  the  knots  and  colors  we  are  very  much 
in  the  dark;  it  has  even  been  doubted  whether  they 
had  any  application  beyond  the  art  of  numeration.3 
Each  combination  had,  however,  a  fixed  ideographic 
value  in  a  certain  branch  of  knowledge,  and  thus  the 
quipu  differed  essentially  from  the  Catholic  rosary,  the 
Jewish  phylactery,  or  the  knotted  strings  of  the  natives 
of  North  America  and  Siberia,  to  all  of  which  it  has  at 
times  been  compared. 

1  Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  72. 

2  Desjardins,    Le  Perou  avant  la   Conqulte  Espagnole,    p.     122. 
Modern  quipu  reading  is  explained  by  Max  Uhle  in  the  Eihnolo- 
gisches  Notizblatt,  Heft.  2,  1895.     An  early  author  on  Peru  states 
that  the  most  recondite  theories  of  the  native  religious  philosophy 
were  recorded  by  quipus.  (Relation  Anonima  in  Tres  Helaciones  Peru- 
anas,  Madrid,  1879.) 


28      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

The  wampum  used  by  the  tribes  of  the  north  Atlantic 
coast  was,  in  many  respects,  analogous  to  the  quipu. 
In  early  times  it  was  composed  chiefly  of  bits  of  wood 
or  shell  of  equal  size,  but  different  colors.  These  were 
hung  on  strings  which  were  woven  into  belts  and 
bands,  the  hues,  shapes,  sizes,  and  combinations  of  the 
strings  hinting  their  general  significance.  Thus  the 
lighter  shades  were  invariably  harbingers  of  peaceful  or 
pleasant  tidings,  while  the  darker  portended  war  and 
danger.  The  general  substitution  of  beads  in  place  of 
wood,  and  the  custom  of  embroidering  figures  in  the 
belts  were,  probably,  introduced  by  European  influence. 

Besides  these,  various  simpler  mnemonic  aids  were 
employed,  such  as  parcels  of  reeds  of  different  lengths, 
notched  sticks,  knots  in  cords,  strings  of  pebbles  or 
fruit-stones,  circular  pieces  of  wood,  small  wheels  or 
slabs  pierced  with  different  figures  which  the  English 
liken  to  "  cony  holes,"  and  at  a  victory,  a  treaty,  or  the 
founding  of  a  village,  sometimes  a  pillar  or  heap  of 
stones  was  erected  equalling  in  number  the  persons 
present  at  the  occasion,  or  the  count  of  the  fallen. 

This  exhausts  the  list.  All  other  methods  of  writ- 
ing, the  hieroglyphs  of  the  Micmacs  of  Acadia,  the  syl- 
labic alphabet  of  the  Cherokees,  the  pretended  traces  of 
Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Celtiberic  letters  which  have  from 
time  to  time  been  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  public, 
have  been  without  exception  the  products  of  foreign 
civilization  or  simply  frauds.  Not  a  single  coin,  in- 
scription, or  memorial  of  any  kind  whatever,  has  been 
found  on  the  American  continent  showing  the  employ- 
ment, either  generally  or  locally,  of  any  other  means  of 
writing  than  those  specified. 

Poor  as  these  substitutes  for  a  developed  phonetic 
system  seem  to  us,  they  were  of  great  value  to  the 


NATIVE  LITERATURE.  29 

uncultivated  man.  In  his  legends  their  introduction 
is  usually  ascribed  to  some  heaven-sent  benefactor,  the 
antique  characters  were  jealously  adhered  to,  and  the 
pictured  scroll  of  bark,  the  quipu  ball,  the  belt  of 
wampum,  were  treasured  with  provident  care,  and 
their  import  minutely  expounded  to  the  most  intelli- 
gent of  the  rising  generation.  In  all  communities 
beyond  the  stage  of  barbarism  a  class  of  persons  was 
set  apart  for  this  duty  and  no  other.  Thus,  for  exam- 
ple, in  ancient  Peru,  one  college  of  priests  styled 
amauta,  learned,  had  exclusive  charge  over  the  quipus 
containing  the  mythological  and  historical  traditions ; 
a  second,  the  haravecs,  singers,  devoted  themselves  to 
those  referring  to  the  national  ballads  and  dramas ; 
while  a  third  occupied  their  time  solely  with  those  per- 
taining to  civil  affairs. 

Such  custodians  preserved  and  prepared  the  archives, 
learned  by  heart  with  their  aid  what  their  fathers 
knew,  and  in  some  countries,  as,  for  instance,  among 
the  Panes  mentioned  above,  and  the  Quiches  of  Guate- 
mala,1 repeated  portions  of  them  at  times  to  the 
assembled  populace.  It  has  even  been  averred  by  one 
of  their  converted  chiefs,  long  a  missionary  to  his  fel- 
lows, that  the  Chipeways  of  Lake  Superior  have  a 
college  composed  of  ten  "of  the  wisest  and  most  vener- 
erable  of  their  nation,"  who  have  in  charge  the  pictured 
records  containing  the  ancient  history  of  their  tribe. 
These  are  kept  in  an  underground  chamber,  and  are 
disinterred  every  fifteen  years  by  the  assembled  guar- 
dians, that  they  may  be  repaired,  and  their  contents 
explained  to  new  members  of  the  society.2 

1  An  instance  is  given  by  Ximenes,  Origen  de  los  Indios  de  Gua- 
temala, p.  186. 

2  George  Copway,   Traditional  History  of  the  Ojibway  Nation,  p. 


30      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

In  spite  of  these  precautions,  the  end  seems  to  have 
been  very  imperfectly  attained.  The  most  distin- 
guished characters,  the  weightiest  events  in  national 
history  faded  into  oblivion  after  a  few  generations.  The 
time  and  circumstances  of  the  formation  of  the  league 
of  the  Five  Nations,  the  dispersion  of  the  mound 
builders  of  the  Ohio  valley  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
the  chronicles  of  Peru  or  Mexico  beyond  a  century  or 
two  anterior  to  the  conquest,  the  genealogies  of  their 
ruling  families,  are  preserved  in  such  a  vague  and  con- 
tradictory manner  that  they  have  slight  value  as 
history. 

Their  mythology  fared  somewhat  better,  for  not  only 
was  it  kept  fresh  in  the  memory  by  frequent  repetition ; 
but  being  itself  founded  in  nature,  it  was  constantly 
nourished  by  the  truths  which  gave  it  birth.  Never- 
theless, we  may  profit  by  the  warning  to  remember 
that  their  myths  are  myths  only,  and  not  the  reflec- 
tions of  history  or  heroes. 

Rising  from  these  details  to  a  general  comparison  of 
the  symbolic  and  phonetic  systems  in  their  reactions 
on  the  mind,  the  most  obvious  are  their  contrasted 
effects  on  the  faculty  of  memory.  Letters  represent 
elementary  sounds,  which  are  few  in  any  language, 
while  symbols  stand  for  ideas,  and  they  are  numerically 
infinite.  The  transmission  of  knowledge  by  means  of 
the  latter  is  consequently  attended  with  most  dispro- 
portionate labor.  It  is  almost  as  if  we  could  quote 
nothing  from  an  author  unless  we  could  recollect  his 
exact  words.  We  have  a  right  to  look  for  excellent 
memories  where  such  a  mode  is  in  vogue,  and  in  the 

130  (London,  1850).  Mr.  Horatio  Hale  tells  me  that  the  Iroquois 
still  preserve  a  similar  institution  to  keep  up  the  interpretation  of 
their  wampum  belts. 


NATIVE  SONGS.  31 

present  instance  we  are  not  disappointed.  "  These 
savages,"  exclaims  La  Hontan,  "have  the  happiest 
memories  in  the  world!"  It  was  etiquette  at  their 
councils  for  each  speaker  to  repeat  verbatim  all  his 
predecessors  had  said,  and  the  whites  were  often  aston- 
ished and  confused  at  the  verbal  fidelity  with  which 
the  natives  recalled  the  transactions  of  long  past 
treaties. 

Their  songs  were  inexhaustible.  An  instance  is  on 
record  where  an  Indian  sang  two  hundred  on  various 
subjects.1  Such  a  fact  reminds  us  of  a  beautiful  ex- 
pression of  the  elder  Humboldt:  "Man,"  he  says, 
"  regarded  as  an  animal,  belongs  to  one  of  the  singing 
species;  but  his  notes  are  always  associated  with 
ideas."  The  youth  who  were  educated  at  the  public 
schools  of  ancient  Mexico — for  that  realm,  so  far  from 
neglecting  the  cause  of  popular  education,  established 
houses  for  gratuitous  instruction,  and  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent made  the  attendance  upon  them  obligatory — 
learned  by  rote  long  orations,  poems  and  prayers  with 
a  facility  astonishing  to  the  conquerors,  and  surpassing 
anything  they  were  accustomed  to  see  in  the  univer- 
sities of  Old  Spain. 

A  phonetic  system  actually  weakens  the  retentive 
powers  of  the  mind  by  offering  a  more  facile  plan  for 
preserving  thought.  "  Ce  que  je  mets  sur  papier,  je  remets 
de  ma  mbmoire"  is  an  expression  of  old  Montaigne 
which  he  could  never  have  used  had  he  employed 
ideographic  characters. 

Memory,  however,  is  of  far  less  importance  than  a 
free  activity  of  thought,  untrammelled  by  forms  or 

1  Morse,  Report  on  the  Indian  Tribes,  App.  p.  352.  Similar  in- 
stances have  been  reported  by  Dr.  Washington  Matthews,  Mr. 
Frank  H.  Gushing  and  other  close  observers  of  the  modern  Indian 


32      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

precedents,  and  ever  alert  to  novel  combinations  of 
ideas.  Give  a  race  this,  and  it  will  guide  it  to  civiliza- 
tion as  surely  as  the  needle  directs  the  ship  to  its  haven. 
It  is  here  that  ideographic  writing  reveals  its  fatal  in- 
feriority. It  is  forever  specifying,  materializing,  dealing 
in  minutiae.  In  the  Egyptian  symbolic  alphabet  there 
is  a  figure  for  a  virgin,  another  for  a  married  woman, 
for  a  widow  without  offspring,  for  a  widow  with  one 
child,  two  children,  and  I  know  not  in  how  many  other 
circumstances,  but  for  woman  there  is  no  sign.  It  must 
be  so  in  the  nature  of  things,  for  the  symbol  represents 
the  object  as  it  appears  or  is  fancied  to  appear,  and  not 
as  it  is  thought.  Furthermore,  the  constant  learning  by 
heart  infallibly  leads  to  heedless  repetition  and  mental 
servility. 

A  symbol  when  understood  is  independent  of  sound, 
and  is  as  universally  current  as  an  Arabic  numeral. 
But  this  divorce  of  spoken  and  written  language 
is  of  questionable  advantage.  It  at  once  destroys 
all  permanent  improvement  in  a  tongue  through  ele- 
gance of  style,  sonorous  periods,  or  delicacy  of  expres- 
sion, and  the  life  of  the  language  itself  is  weakened 
when  its  forms  are  left  to  fluctuate  uncontrolled. 
Written  poetry,  grammar,  rhetoric,  all  are  impossible 
to  the  student  who  draws  his  knowledge  from  such  a 
source. 

Finally,  it  has  been  justly  observed  by  the  younger 
Humboldt  that  the  painful  fidelity  to  the  antique 
figures  transmitted  from  barbarous  to  polished  gener- 
ations is  injurious  to  the  aesthetic  sense,  and  dulls  the 
mind  to  the  beautiful  in  art  and  nature. 

The  transmission  of  thought  by  figures  and  symbols 
would,  on  the  whole,  therefore,  foster  those  narrow  and 
material  tendencies  which  the  genius  of  incorporative 


RACIAL  TRAITS.  33 

languages  would  seem  calculated  to  produce.  Its  one 
redeeming  trait  of  strengthening  the  memory  will  serve 
to  explain  the  strange  tenacity  with  which  certain 
myths  have  been  preserved  through  widely  dispersed 
families,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see. 

Besides  this  of  language  there  are  two  traits  in  the 
history  of  the  red  man  without  parallel  in  that  of  any 
other  variety  of  our  species  which  has  achieved  any 
notable  progress  in  civilization. 

The  one  is  his  isolation.  Cut  off  time  out  of  mind 
from  the  rest  of  the  world,  he  never  underwent  those 
crossings  of  blood  and  culture  which  so  modified  and 
on  the  whole  promoted  the  growth  of  the  old  world 
nationalities.  In  his  own  way  he  worked  out  his  own 
destiny,  and  what  he  won  was  his  with  a  more  than 
ordinary  right  of  ownership.  For  all  those  old  dreams 
of  the  advent  of  the  Ten  Lost  Tribes,  of  Buddhist 
priests,  of  Welsh  princes,  or  of  Phenician  merchants 
on  American  soil,  and  there  exerting  a  permanent 
influence,  have  been  consigned  to  the  dust-bin  by  every 
unbiased  student,  and  when  we  see  learned  men  essay- 
ing to  resuscitate  them,  we  regretfully  look  upon  it  in 
the  light  of  a  scientific  anachronism.1  The  most  com- 
petent observers  are  agreed  that  American  art  bears  the 
indisputable  stamp  of  its  indigenous  growth.  Those 
analogies  and  identities  which  have  been  brought  for- 
ward to  prove  its  Asiatic  or  European  or  Polynesian 
origin,  whether  in  myth,  folk-lore  or  technical  details, 

1  These  words,  written  thirty  years  ago,  have  not  been  in  the 
least  invalidated  by  subsequent  research.  There  are  still  a  few 
writers  who,  misconstruing  the  meaning  of  analogies  of  culture, 
continue  to  produce  them  as  evidence  of  the  foreign  origin  of  na- 
tive American  civilization ;  but  their  number  is  yearly  dimin- 
ishing. 

3 


34      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  BED  RACE. 

belong  wholly  and  only  to  the  uniform  development  of 
human  culture  under  similar  conditions.  This  is  their 
true  anthropological  interpretation,  and  we  need  no 
other. 

The  second  trait  is  the  entire  absence  of  the  herds- 
man's life  with  its  softening  associations.  Throughout 
the  continent  there  is  not  a  single  authentic  instance  of 
a  pastoral  tribe,  not  one  of  an  animal  raised  for  its 
milk,  nor  for  the  transportation  of  persons,  and  very 
few  for  their  flesh.1  It  was  essentially  a  hunting  race. 
The  most  civilized  nations  looked  to  the  chase  for  their 
chief  supply  of  meat,  and  the  courts  of  Cuzco  and 
Mexico  enacted  stringent  game  and  forest  laws,  and  at 
certain  periods  the  whole  population  turned  out  for  a 
general  crusade  against  the  denizens  of  the  forest.  In 
the  most  densely  settled  districts  the  conquerors  found 
vast  stretches  of  primitive  woods. 

If  we  consider  the  life  of  a  hunter,  pitting  his  skill 
and  strength  against  the  marvelous  instincts  and  quick 
perceptions  of  the  brute,  training  his  senses  to  preter- 
natural acuteness,  but  blunting  his  more  tender  feelings, 
his  sole  aim  to  shed  blood  and  take  life,  dependent  on 
luck  for  his  food,  exposed  to  deprivations,  storms  and 
long  wanderings,  his  chief  diet  flesh,  we  may  more 
readily  comprehend  that  conspicuous  disregard  of 
human  suffering,  those  sanguinary  rites,  that  vindictive 
spirit,  that  inappeasable  restlessness,  which  we  so  often 
find  in  the  chronicles  of  ancient  America.  The  old 

1  The  lamas  in  Peru  were  domesticated  in  considerable  numbers, 
chiefly  for  the  fleece.  Some  similar  animal  may  have  been 
tamed  by  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  Bio  Salado,  and  Gomara 
asserts  that  a  tribe  near  Cape  Hatteras  kept  flocks  of  deer  (Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  cap.  43).  Dogs  were  occasionally  trained  to  draw 
loads,  but  not  as  pack  animals. 


THE  MAIZE.  35 

English  law  with  reason  objected  to  accepting  a  butcher 
as  a  juror  on  a  trial  for  life;  here  is  a  whole  race  of 
butchers 

The  one  mollifying  element  was  agriculture.  On  the 
altar  of  Mixcoatl,  god  of  hunting,  the  Aztec  priest  tore 
the  heart  from  the  human  victim  and  smeared  with 
the  spouting  blood  the  snake  that  coiled  its  length 
around  the  idol;  flowers  and  fruits,  yellow  ears  of 
maize  and  clusters  of  rich  bananas  decked  the  shrine 
of  Centeotl,  beneficent  patroness  of  agriculture,  and 
bloodless  offerings  alone  were  her  appropriate  dues. 

This  shows  how  clear,  even  to  the  native  mind,  was 
the  contrast  between  these  two  modes  of  subsistence. 
By  substituting  a  sedentary  for  a  wandering  life,  by 
supplying  a  fixed  dependence  for  an  uncertain  con- 
tingency, and  by  admonishing  man  that  in  preservation, 
not  in  destruction,  lies  his  most  remunerative  sphere 
of  activity,  we  can  hardly  estimate  too  highly  the  wide 
distribution  of  the  zea  mays.  This  was  the  only  general 
cereal,  and  it  was  found  in  cultivation  from  the 
southern  extremity  of  Chili  to  the  fiftieth  parallel  of 
of  north  latitude,  beyond  which  limits  the  low  temper- 
ature renders  it  an  uncertain  crop.  In  their  legends  it 
is  represented  as  the  gift  of  the  Great  Spirit  (Chipe- 
ways),  brought  from  the  terrestrial  Paradise  by  the 
sacred  animals  (Quiches),  and  symbolically  the  mother 
of  the  race  (Nahuas),  and  the  material  from  which  was 
moulded  the  first  of  men  (Quiches).1 

As  the  races,  so  the  great  families  of  man  who  speak 
dialects  of  the  same  tongue  are,  in  a  sense,  individuals, 
bearing  each  its  own  physiognomy.  When  the  whites 

1  Dr.  J.  W.  Harshberger,  in  his  Maize :  a  Botanical  and  Economic 
Study  (1893),  enters  at  considerable  length  into  the  historical  ques- 
tion of  its  origin  and  early  distribution  in  America. 


36      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

first  heard  the  uncouth  gutturals  of  the  Indians,  they 
frequently  proclaimed  that  hundreds  of  radically 
diverse  languages,  invented,  it  was  piously  suggested, 
by  the  devil  for  the  annoyance  of  missionaries,  pre- 
vailed over  the  continent.  Earnest  students  of  such 
matters — Gallatin,  Turner,  Buschmann,  Adam — have, 
however,  demonstrated  that  three-fourths  of  the  area  of 
America,  at  its  discovery,  was  controlled  by  tribes 
using  dialects  traceable  to  ten  or  a  dozen  primitive 
stems.  The  names  of  these,  their  geographical  position 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and,  so  far  as  it  is  safe  to  do 
so,  their  individual  character,  I  shall  briefly  mention. 

Fringing  the  shores  of  the  Northern  Ocean  from 
Mount  St.  Elias  on  the  West  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence on  the  east,  rarely  seen  a  hundred  miles  from  the 
coast,  were  the  Eskimos.1  They  occupy  the  inter- 
mediate geographical  position  between  the  races  of  the 
Old  and  New  Worlds,  and  in  physical  appearance  and 
mental  traits  have  been  in  parts  influenced  by  the 
former,  but  in  language  betray  their  near  kinship  to  the 
latter.  An  amphibious  race,  born  fishermen,  in  their 
buoyant  skin  kayaks  they  brave  fearlessly  the  tem- 
pests, make  long  voyages,  and  merit  the  sobriquet 

1  The  name  Eskimo  is  from  the  Algonkin  word  Eskimantick, 
eaters  of  raw  flesh.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  at  one  time 
they  possessed  the  Atlantic  coast  considerably  to  the  south.  The 
Northmen,  in  the  year  1000,  found  the  natives  of  Vinland,  possi- 
bly near  Cape  Cod,  of  the  same  race  as  they  were  familiar  with  in 
Labrador.  They  call  them  contemptuously  Skralingar,  chips,  and 
describe  them  as  numerous  and  short  of  stature  (Eric  Eothens  Saga, 
in  Mueller,  Sagcenbibliothek,  p.  214).  It  is  curious  that  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Tuscaroras,  who  placed  their  arrival  on  the  Virginian 
coast  about  1300,  spoke  of  the  race  they  found  there  (called  Tacci 
or  Dogi)  as  eaters  of  raw  flesh  and  ignorant  of  maize.  (Lederer, 
Account  of  North  America,  in  Harris,  Voyages.) 


THE  ATHAPASCANS.  37 

bestowed  upon  them  by  Von  Baer,  "  the  Phenicians  of 
the  north."  Contrary  to  what  one  might  suppose,  they 
are,  amid  their  snows,  a  contented,  light-hearted  peo- 
ple, knowing  no  longing  for  a  sunnier  clime,  given  to 
song,  music  and  merry  tales.  They  are  cunning  handi- 
craftsmen to  a  degree,  but  withal  wholly  ingulfed  in  a 
sensuous  existence.  The  desperate  struggle  for  life 
engrosses  them,  and  their  mythology  is  comparatively 
barren. 

South  of  them,  extending  in  a  broad  band  across  the 
continent  from  Hudson's  Bay  to  the  Pacific,  and  almost 
to  the  Great  Lakes  below,  is  the  Athapascan  stock. 
Its  affiliated  tribes  rove  far  north  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Mackenzie  River,  and  wandering  still  more  widely  in 
an  opposite  direction  along  both  declivities  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  people  portions  of  the  coast  of  Ore- 
gon south  of  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  and  spreading 
over  the  plains  of  New  Mexico  under  the  names  of 
Apaches,  Navajos,  and  Lipans,  almost  reached  the  tropics 
at  the  delta  of  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte,  and  on  the 
shores  of  the  Gulf  of  California. 

No  wonder  they  deserted  their  fatherland  and  forgot 
it  altogether,  for  it  is  a  very  terra  damnata,  whose 
wretched  inhabitants  are  cut  off  alike  from  the  harvest 
of  the  sea  and  the  harvest  of  the  soil.  The  profitable 
culture  of  maize  does  not  extend  beyond  the  fiftieth 
parallel  of  latitude,  and  less  than  seven  degrees  farther 
north  the  mean  annual  temperature  everywhere  east  of 
the  mountains  sinks  below  the  freezing  point.1  Agri- 
culture is  impossible,  and  the  only  chance  for  life  lies 
in  the  uncertain  fortunes  of  the  chase  and  the  penurious 
gifts  of  an  arctic  flora. 

1  Bichardson,  Arctic  Expedition,  p.  374. 


38      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

The  denizens  of  these  wilds  are  abject,  slovenly,  hope- 
lessly savage,  "  at  the  bottom  of  the  scale  of  humanity 
in  North  America,"  says  Dr.  Richardson ;  and  their 
relatives  who  have  wandered  to  the  more  genial  climes 
of  the  south  are  as  savage  as  they,  as  perversely  hostile 
to  a  sedentary  life,  as  gross  and  narrow  in  their  moral 
notions.  This  wide-spread  stock,  scattered  over  forty- 
five  degrees  of  latitude,  covering  thousands  of  square 
leagues,  reaching  from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  the  confines 
of  the  ancient  empire  of  the  Montezumas,  presents  in 
all  its  subdivisions  the  same  mental  physiognomy  and 
linguistic  peculiarities.1 

Best  known  to  us  of  all  the  Indians  are  the  Algonkins 
and  Iroquois,  who,  at  the  time  of  the  discovery,  were 
the  sole  possessors  of  the  region  now  embraced  by 
Canada  and  the  eastern  United  States  north  of  the 
thirty-fifth  parallel.  The  latter,  under  the  names  of 
the  Five  Nations,  Hurons,  Tuscaroras,  Susquehannocks, 
Nottoways  and  others,  occupied  much  of  the  soil  from 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  Lake  Ontario  to  the  Roanoke,  and 
the  Cherokees,  whose  homes  were  in  the  secluded  vales 
of  East  Tennessee,  appear  to  have  been  one  of  their 
early  offshoots.1  They  were  a  race  of  warriors,  cour- 
ageous, cruel,  unimaginative,  but  of  rare  political 

1  The  late  Professor  W.  W.  Turner  of  Washington,  and  Professor 
Buschmann  of  Berlin,  are  the  two  scholars  who  have  traced  the 
boundaries  of  this  widely  dispersed  family.  The  name  is  drawn 
from  Lake  Athapasca  in  British  America.  There  is  some  affinity 
between  the  Otomi  of  Mexico  and  the  Athapascan  dialects.  They 
are  also  known  as  the  De'ne'  or  Tinne". 

*  The  Cherokee  tongue  has  a  limited  number  of  words  in  com- 
mon with  the  Iroquois,  and  its  structural  similarity  is  close.  Their 
name  is  properly  Atsalagi,  and  is  that  by  which  they  call  a  person 
of  their  own  people. 


THE  ALGONKINS.  39 

sagacity.     They  are  more  like  ancient  Romans  than 
Indians,  and  are  leading  figures  in  the  colonial  wars. 

The  Algonkins  surrounded  them  on  every  side,  occu- 
pying the  rest  of  the  region  mentioned  and  running 
westward  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where 
one  of  their  famous  bands,  the  Blackfeet,  still  hunts 
over  the  valley  of  the  Saskatchewan.  They  were  more 
genial  than  the  Iroquois,  of  milder  manners  and  more 
vivid  fancy,  and  were  regarded  by  these  with  a  curious 
mixture  of  respect  and  contempt.  Some  writer  has 
connected  this  difference  with  their  preference  for  the 
open  prairie  country  in  contrast  to  the  endless  and 
sombre  forests  where  were  the  homes  of  the  Iroquois.1 

Their  history  abounds  in  great  men,  whose  ambitious 
plans  were  foiled  by  the  levity  of  their  allies  and  their 
want  of  persistence.  They  it  was  who  under  King 
Philip  fought  the  Puritan  fathers ;  who  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  Pontiac  doomed  to  death  every  white  trespasser 
on  their  soil ;  who  led  by  Tecumseh  and  Black  Hawk  * 
gathered  the  clans  of  the  forest  and  mountain  for  the 
last  pitched  battle  of  the  races  in  the  Mississippi  valley. 
To  them  belonged  the  mild  mannered  Lenni  Lenape, 
who  little  foreboded  the  hand  of  iron  that  grasped  their 
own  so  softly  under  the  elm  tree  of  Shackamaxon,  to 
them  the  restless  Shawnee,  the  gypsy  of  the  wilderness, 
the  Chipeways  of  Lake  Superior,  and  also  to  them  the 
Indian  girl  Pocahontas,  who  in  the  legend  averted  from 
the  head  of  the  white  man  the  blow  which,  rebounding, 
swept  away  her  father  and  all  his  tribe. 

1  The  term  Algonkin  may  be  a  corruption  of  agomeegwin,  people 
of  the  other  shore.  Algic,  often  used  synonymously,  is  an  adjective 
manufactured  by  Mr.  Schoolcraf t  ' '  from  the  words  Alleghany  and 
Atlantic"  (Algic  Researches,  ii.  p.  12).  There  is  no  occasion  to 
accept  it,  as  there  is  no  objection  to  employing  Algonkin  both  as 


40      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

Between  their  southernmost  outposts  and  the  Gulf 
Coast  were  a  number  of  clans  speaking  dialects  of  the 
Chahta-Muskoki  tongue,  including  the  Choctaws,  Chick- 
asaws,  Upper  and  Lower  Creeks  and  the  Seminoles. 
Their  common  legend  stated  that  long  ago  they  entered 
this  district  from  the  west,  and  destroyed  or  allied 
themselves  with  its  earlier  occupants.  Among  these 
were  the  lichees  and  the  Timucuas,  the  latter  possessing 
the  greater  part  of  the  peninsula  of  Florida  when  it  was 
first  explored  by  the  Spanish  and  French  colonists  in 
the  sixteenth  century.1  The  Chahta-Muskoki  dialects 
stretched  from  the  Savannah  and  Tennessee  Rivers  to 
the  Gulf  Coast,  and  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic 
seaboard ;  but  no  trace  of  that  tongue  or  of  any  other  on 
the  northern  mainland  existed  on  the  Bahamas  or  the 
Antilles ;  nor,  so  far  as  is  now  known,  did  any  linguistic 
stock  of  the  West  Indian  Archipelago  or  South  American 
continent  locate  a  colony  in  Florida  or  the  Gulf  States. 

North  of  the  Arkansas  River  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Mississippi,  quite  to  its  source,  stretching  over  to  Lake 
Michigan  at  Green  Bay,  and  up  the  valley  of  the 
Missouri  west  to  the  mountains,  resided  the  Dakotas, 
an  erratic  folk,  averse  to  agriculture,  but  daring  hunters 
and  bold  warriors,  tall  and  strong  of  body.*  Their 

substantive  and  adjective.  Iroquois  is  a  French  compound  of  the 
native  word  hiro,  I  have  said,  and  koud,  an  interjection  of  assent  or 
applause,  terms  constantly  heard  in  their  councils. 

1  By  a  strange  chance  the  language  of  the  Timucuas  has  been 
preserved,  though  probably  the  last  soul  that  could  speak  it  died 
more  than  a  century  ago.     Their  high  artistic  capacity,  as  revealed 
in  the  collections  of  Clarence  Moore  and  Frank  H.  Cushing,  lend  to 
them  especial  interest.       (Raoul  de  la   Orasserie,    Grammaire  et 
Vocabulalre  Timucua. ) 

2  Dakota,  a  native  word,  means  friends  or  allies.     By  the  Bureau 
of  American  Ethnology  the  stock  is  called  the  "Siouan." 


TEE  AZTECS.  41 

religious  notions  have  been  carefully  studied,  and  as 
they  are  remarkably  primitive  and  transparent,  they 
will  often  be  referred  to.  The  Sioux  and  the  Winne- 
bagoes  are  well  known  branches  of  this  family. 

Some  distant  fragments  of  it,  such  as  the  Tuteloes  of 
Virginia  and  the  Catawbas  of  Carolina,  were  found  east 
of  the  Alleghanies  near  the  sea  board,  and  the  Biloxis 
on  the  Gulf  Coast  in  Louisiana.1 

We  have  seen  that  Dr.  Richardson  assigned  to  a 
portion  of  the  Athapascas  the  lowest  place  among  North 
American  tribes ;  but  there  are  some  in  New  Mexico 
who  might  contest  the  sad  distinction,  the  Root  Diggers, 
Comanches  and  others,  members  of  the  Snake  or  Sho- 
shonee  family,  scattered  extensively  northwest  of 
Mexico.  It  has  been  said  of  a  part  of  these  that  they 
are  "  nearer  the  brutes  than  probably  any  other  portion 
of  the  human  race  on  the  face  of  the  globe."2  Their 
habits  in  some  respects  are  more  brutish  than  those  of 
any  brute,  for  there  is  no  limit  to  man's  moral  descent 
or  ascent,  and  the  observer  might  well  be  excused  for 
doubting  whether  such  a  stock  ever  had  a  history  in  the 
past,  or  the  possibility  of  one  in  the  future.  Yet  these 
debased  creatures  speak  a  related  dialect,  and  partake 
in  some  measure  of  the  same  blood  as  the  famous  Aztec 
race,  who  founded  the  empire  of  Anahuac,  and  raised 
architectural  monuments  rivalling  the  most  famous 
structures  of  the  ancient  world.3 

1  On  these  consult  the  excellent  monograph  of  James  Mooney, 
The  Siouan  Tribes  of  the  East  (Washington,  1894). 

2  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  1854,  p.  209.     Pro- 
fessor K.  Virchow  assigns  to  one  of  their  skulls  the  very  lowest 
position   of  any   he  had   examined.       Crania  Ethnica  Americana, 
Tafel  xvi. 

3  According  to  Professor  Buschmann  Aztec  is  probably  from  iztac, 


42      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

This  great  family,  the  "Uto-Aztecan,''1  whose  language 
has  been  traced  from  Nicaragua  to  the  Columbia 
Kiver,  and  whose  bold  intellects  and  enterprising  char- 
acter colored  much  of  the  civilization  in  this  wide  area, 
seems  to  have  journeyed  southward  at  some  remote 
epoch  from  a  centre  between  the  Great  Lakes  and  the 
Kocky  Mountains.  They  peopled  the  Sierras  of  Sonora 
and  controlled  the  land  between  the  Pacific  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  One  of  their  small  bands,  the  Toltecs, 
became  invested  in  later  legend  with  the  halo  of  heroes 
and  magicians,  and  were  mythically  represented  as  the 
founders  of  that  civilization  which  it  is  probable  they 
largely  borrowed  in  germ  from  tribes  in  the  south  of 
Mexico.  Such  as  it  was,  they  readily  assimilated  and 
increased  it,  and  their  distant  colonies  in  Nicaragua 
and  Costa  Rica  carried  it  with  them  to  these  remote 
points. 

Of  an  older  and  higher  civilization  than  the  Nahuas 
were  the  Mayan  tribes.  At  the  discovery,  their  con- 
tiguous bands  occupied  all  the  soil  of  Yucatan  and 

white,  and  Nahuatlacatl  signifies  those  who  speak  the  language 
NahuaM,  clear  sounding,  sonorous.  The  Abb6  Brasseur  (de  Bour- 
bourg),  on  the  other  hand,  derives  the  latter  from  the  Quiche 
nawal,  intelligent,  and  adds  the  amazing  information  that  this  is 
identical  with  the  English  know  att!.'  (Hist,  du  Mexique,  etc.,  i.  p. 
102).  The  Shoshonees  when  first  known  dwelt  as  far  north  as  the 
head  waters  of  the  Missouri,  and  in  the  country  now  occupied  by 
the  Black  Feet.  Their  language,  which  includes  that  of  the 
Comanche,  Wihinasht,  Utah,  and  kindred  bands,  was  first  shown  to 
have  many  and  marked  affinities  with  that  of  the  Aztecs  by  Pro- 
fessor Buschmann  in  his  great  work,  Ueber  die  Spilren  der  Aztekischen 
Sprache  im  nordlichen  Mexico  und  hoheren  Amerikanischen  Norden,  p. 
648  (Berlin,  1854). 

1  Such  is  the  general  name  I  have  proposed  for  it  in  my  Ameri- 
can Race,  p.  118  (Philadelphia,  1891). 


THE  MAYAS.  43 

most  of  that  of  Guatemala,  Chiapas,  Tabasco  and 
Western  Honduras.  An  outlying  colony  dwelt  in  the 
valley  of  the  Rio  Panuco  north  of  Vera  Cruz.  They 
were  the  builders  of  the  famous  ruins  of  Palenque, 
Copan,  Uxmal  and  Chichen  Itza,  as  well  as  of  hundreds 
less  known  but  not  less  majestic  cities,  now  hidden  in 
the  shades  of  the  tropical  forests. 

Their  language  is  radically  distinct  from  that  of  the 
Aztecs,  but  their  calendar  and  a  portion  of  their  myth- 
ology are  common  property.  They  seem  an  ancient 
race  of  mild  manners  and  considerable  polish.  Their 
own  annals,  preserved  by  means  of  their  calendars  and 
graphic  methods,  carry  their  history  back  nearly  to  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era.1 

No  American  nation  offers  a  more  promising  field  for 
study.  Their  stone  temples  still  bear  testimony  to 
their  uncommon  skill  in  the  arts.  A  trustworthy  tra- 
dition dates  the  close  of  the  golden  age  of  Yucatan  a 
century  anterior  to  its  discovery  by  Europeans.  Previ- 
ously it  had  been  one  kingdom,  under  one  ruler,  and 
prolonged  peace  had  fostered  the  growth  of  the  fine 
arts ;  but  when  their  capital  Mayapan  fell,  internal  dis- 
sensions ruined  most  of  their  cities. 

Very  slight  connection  has  been  shown  between  the 
civilization  of  North  and  South  America,  and  that 
only  near  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  In  the  latter  conti- 
nent it  was  confined  to  two  totally  foreign  tribes,  the 
Muyscas,  whose  empire,  called  that  of  the  Zacs,  was  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Bogota,  and  the  Peruvians,  who 
were  divided  into  two  primary  divisions,  the  one  the 
Quichuas,  including  the  Incas  and  Aymaras,  possessing 


1  The  Maya  Ghrmides,  Edited  by  D.  G.  Brinton  (Philadelphia, 
1882). 


44      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

the  Andean  region,  and  the  Yuncas  of  the  coast.  The 
former  were  the  dominant  tribe  and  extended  their 
language  and  race  along  the  highlands  of  the  Cordil- 
leras from  the  Equator  to  the  thirtieth  degree  of  south 
latitude.  Lake  Titicaca  seems  to  have  been  the  cradle 
of  their  civilization,  offering  another  example  how 
inland  seas  and  well-watered  plains  favor  the  change 
from  a  hunting  to  an  agricultural  life. 

These  four  nations,  the  Aztecs,  the  Mayas,  the 
Muyscas  and  the  Peruvians,  developed  spontaneously 
and  independently  under  the  laws  of  human  progress 
what  civilization  was  found  among  the  red  race.  They 
owed  nothing  to  Asiatic  or  European  teachers.  The 
Incas  it  was  long  supposed  spoke  a  language  of  their 
own,  and  this  has  been  thought  evidence  of  foreign 
extraction;  but  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt  has  shown 
conclusively  that  it  was  but  a  dialect  of  the  common 
tongue  of  their  country.1 

When  Columbus  first  touched  the  island  of  Cuba,  he 
was  regaled  with  horrible  stories  of  one-eyed  monsters 
who  dwelt  on  the  other  islands,  but  plundered  indis- 
criminately on  every  hand.  These  turned  out  to  be 
the  notorious  Caribs,  whose  other  name  Cannibals,  has 

1  His  opinion  was  founded  on  an  analysis  of  fifteen  words  of  the 
secret  language  of  the  Incas  preserved  in  the  Royal  Commentaries 
of  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega.  On  examination,  they  all  proved  to  be 
modified  forms  from  the  lengua  general  (Meyen,  Ueber  die  Ureinbe- 
wohner  von  Peru,  p.  6).  The  Quichuas  of  Peru  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  the  Quiches,  a  Mayan  tribe  of  Guatemala.  Quiche  is 
the  name  of  a  place,  and  means  "  many  trees  ;"  the  derivation  of 
Quichua  is  unknown.  Muyscas  means  "men."  This  nation  also 
called  themselves  Chibchas.  The  most  accurate  studies  of  the 
tongues  of  ancient  Peru  are  those  of  Dr.  E.  W.  Middendorf 
(Leipzig,  1890-1895).  He  includes  the  Quichua,  Aymara  and 
Yunca  (or  Chimu). 


CARIES  AND  ARAWACKS.  45 

descended  as  a  common  noun  to  our  language,  ex- 
pressive of  one  of  their  inhuman  practices.  These 
warlike  robbers  had  extended  their  plundering  voyages 
to  Cuba  and  Haiti  and  permanently  occupied  some  of 
the  Lesser  Antilles,  but  pointed  for  their  home  to  the 
mainland  of  South  America.  This  they  possessed  along 
the  shore  west  of  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco  nearly  to  the 
Cordilleras.  Their  original  home  was  far  to  the  South, 
and  the  most  primitive  dialects  of  their  tongue  are  found 
to-day  surviving  in  the  highlands  near  the  sources  of 
the  River  Plate.  They  won  renown  as  bold  fighters, 
daring  navigators  and  skilled  craftsmen  ;  but  that  they 
ever  formed  permanent  settlements  in  any  part  of  the 
northern  continent  is  now  not  credited  by  careful 
students.1 

Except  the  islands  seized  by  these  marauders  the 
whole  o£  the  West  Indian  Archipelago  at  the  arrival 
of  Columbus  was  peopled  by  a  branch  of  the  Arawack 
stock.*  They  had  at  some  remote  time  migrated  from 
the  mainland,  the  coast  of  which  they  then  occupied 
between  the  mouths  of  the  Orinoco  and  the  Amazon. 
They  have  abundant  affiliations  in  the  southern  conti- 
nent, and  there  are  reasons  to  believe  that  their 
primitive  home  was  in  the  Bolivian  highlands,  where 
we  still  meet  representatives  of  their  family. 

In  the  immense  territory  of  the  Amazon  basin  were 

1  The  distribution  of  the  Caribs  has  been  especially  studied  by 
von  den  Steinen  ( Unter  den  Naturvolkern  Zentral-Brasiliens,  Berlin, 
1894).     He  gives  the   meaning   of    "caraibe"  as  stranger,   for- 
eigner,  "not  like  us."      Die  Bakairi-Sprache,  Vorwort  (Leipzig, 
1892). 

2  The  evidence  for  this  will  be  found  in  my  article,  The  Arawack 
Language  of  Guiana  in  its  Linguistic  and  Ethnological  Relations,  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  1871. 


46      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

numerous  tribes  not  yet  clearly  distinguished ;  but  the 
most  prominent  in  history  are  the  members  of  the 
Tupi  stock.  They  dwelt  on  the  Atlantic  coast  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  to  the  Plate  River  and  along 
the  shore  and  tributaries  of  the  former  almost  to  the 
great  Cordillera  of  the  west.  Their  tongue  has  a  com- 
paratively rich  literature  and  is  still  known  as  the 
"  general  language,"  lingoa  geral,  of  Brazil.  Like  their 
neighbors,  the  Arawacks,  they  had  a  moderately  high 
development,  carrying  on  some  agriculture,  building 
permanent  villages  and  manufacturing  excellent  boats 
and  graceful  pottery.1 

The  immense  forest-covered  tract  in  the  northern  por- 
tion of  the  Argentine  Republic  called  the  Grand  Chaco, 
the  Great  Hunting  Ground,  was  peopled  by  roving 
tribes  of  still  undetermined  affinities ;  while  south  of 
it  the  extensive  grassy  plains  known  as  the  Pampas 
were  controlled  by  sparse  population  affined  to  the 
Araucanians  of  Chili,  a  warlike,  freedom-loving  race, 
unconquered  for  centuries  by  the  white  invaders.  The 
inhospitable  tracts  of  Patagonia  and  the  Land  of  Fire 
were  the  abode  of  isolated  groups,  many  of  them  in 
the  lowest  stages  of  culture  and  the  utmost  apparent 
wretchedness. 

There  are  many  small  tribes  who  seem  to  have  no 
linguistic  affinities  with  others,  especially  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  The  lack  of  inland  water  communication,  the 
difficult  nature  of  the  soil,  and  perhaps  the  greater 
antiquity  of  the  population  there,  seems  to  have 
isolated  and  split  up  beyond  recognition  the  indi- 
genous families  on  that  shore  of  the  continent ;  while 


1  Their  geographic  extension  is  shown  in  Lucien  Adam's  Gram- 
maire  C&mparee  des  dialectes  de  la  FamMe  Tupi  (Paris,  1896). 


MIGRATIONS.  47 

the  great  river  systems  and  broad  plains  of  the  Atlantic 
slope  facilitated  migration  and  intercommunication, 
and  thus  preserved  national  distinctions  over  thousands 
of  square  leagues.1 

These  natural  features  of  the  continent,  compared 
with  the  actual  distribution  of  languages,  offer  our 
only  guides  in  forming  an  opinion  as  to  the  migrations 
of  these  various  families  in  ancient  times.  Their  tra- 
ditions, take  even  the  most  cultivated,  are  confused, 
contradictory,  and  in  great  part  manifestly  fabulous. 
To  construct  from  them  by  means  of  daring  combina- 
tions and  forced  interpretations  a  connected  account  of 
the  race  during  the  centuries  preceding  Columbus  were 
with  the  aid  of  a  vivid  fancy  an  easy  matter,  but  would 
be  quite  unworthy  the  name  of  history.  The  most 
that  can  be  said  with  certainty  is  that  the  general 
course  of  migrations  in  both  Americas  was  from  the 
high  latitudes  toward  the  tropics,  and  from  the  great 
western  chain  of  mountains  toward  the  east. 

No  reasonable  doubt  exists  but  that  the  Athapascas, 
Algonkins,  Iroquois,  Chahta-Muskokis  and  Nahuas  all 
migrated  from  the  north  or  west  to  the  regions  they 
occupied.  In  South  America,  curiously  enough,  the 
direction  is  largely  reversed.  The  Caribs,  the  Ara- 
wacks  and  the  Tupis,  and  perhaps  we  should  add  the 
Aymaras  and  the  Quichuas  (though  their  relationship 
is  not  wholly  sure),  according  to  both  linguistic  and 
legendary  testimony,  wandered  forth  from  the  steppes 
and  valleys  at  the  head  waters  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata 

1  The  reader  who  desires  a  closer  acquaintance  with  the  linguis- 
tic stocks  and  various  aboriginal  tribes  is  referred  to  my  work,  The 
American  Race ;  a  Linguistic  Classification  and  Ethnographic  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Native  Tribes  of  North  and  South  America  (pp.  392,  New 
York,  1891). 


48      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  TEE  RED  RACE. 

toward  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  they  came  face  to 
face  with  the  other  wave  of  migration  surging  down 
from  high  northern  latitudes.  For  the  banks  of  the 
river  Paraguay  and  the  steppes  of  the  Bolivian  C  ordil- 
leras  are  unquestionably  the  earliest  traditional  homes 
of  all  these  stocks. 

These  movements  took  place  not  in  large  bodies 
under  the  stimulus  of  a  settled  purpose,  but  step  by  step, 
family  by  family,  as  the  older  hunting  grounds  became 
too  thickly  peopled.  This  fact  hints  unmistakably  at 
the  gray  antiquity  of  the  race.  It  were  idle  even  to 
guess  how  great  this  must  be,  but  it  is  possible  to  set 
limits  to  it  in  both  directions. 

On  the  one  hand,  the  laws  of  the  evolution  of  the 
higher  verterbrates  offer  no  support  to  the  idea  that 
the  species  Man  was  developed  on  the  American  conti- 
nent. Its  living  and  fossil  fauna  are  alike  devoid  of 
high  apes,  of  tailless  monkeys,  or  those  with  thirty -two 
teeth;  in  the  absence  of  which  links  we  must  accept 
man  as  an  immigrant,  not  a  native  in  the  new  world. 
Nor  can  we  place  his  advent  extremely  remote.  The 
persistent  examination  of  the  glacial  moraines  which 
date  back  to  the  close  of  the  Ice  Age,  of  the  Equus 
beds  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  megalonyx  layers 
in  the  caves  of  the  Alleghanies,  of  the  undisturbed, 
auriferous  gravels  of  the  Pacific,  and  the  Trenton  and 
similar  ancient  gravels  of  the  Atlantic  slope,  have  re- 
sulted in  seriously  weakening  the  numerous  alleged 
evidences  of  the  presence  of  man  at  the  dates  of  their 
deposit.  No  so-called  "  palaeolithic "  art,  none  older 
than  or  different  from  that  of  the  modern  red  Indian, 
as  we  know  him  through  the  descriptions  of  the  early 
travelers,  has  been  established  by  evidence  so  clear  as  to 
be  beyond  grave  doubt ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of 


CEANIOLOGY.  49 

the  similar  supposed  discoveries  in  other  portions  of 
the  continent.1 

The  cranial  forms  of  the  American  aborigines  have 
by  some  been  supposed  to  present  anomalies  distin- 
guishing their  race  from  all  others,  and  even  its  chief 
families  from  one  another.  This,  too,  falls  to  the 
ground  before  a  rigid  analysis.  The  last  word  of  crani- 
ology,  which  at  one  time  promised  to  revolutionize 
ethnology  and  even  history,  is  that  no  one  form  of  the 
skull  is  peculiar  to  the  natives  of  the  New  World  ;  that 
in  the  same  linguistic  family  one  glides  into  another  by 
imperceptible  degrees  ;  and  that  there  is  as  much  diver- 
sity, and  the  same  diversity,  among  them  in  this  re- 
spect as  among  the  races  of  the  Old  Continent.2  Pecu- 
liarities of  structure,  though  they  may  pass  as  general 
truths,  offer  no  firm  foundation  whereon  to  construct 
a  scientific  ethnography.  Anatomy  shows  nothing 
unique  in  the  Indian,  nothing  demanding  for  its  de- 

1  This  appears  at  the  present  time  (1896)  to  be  the  result  of  the 
investigations  which  for  several  years  have  been  carried  on  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Wilson,  Prof.  F.  W.  Wright,  C.  C.  Abbott  and  F.  W. 
Putnam  on  the  one  side,  and  W.  J.  McGee,  W.  H.  Holmes  and 
Gerard  Fowke  on  the  other  ;  to  mention  only  a  few  of  those  inter- 
ested in  them.     As  for  the  South  American  evidences,  advanced  by 
F.  Ameghino,  Burmeister,  Lovisato  and  others,  they  are  too  un- 
determinate  to  be  convincing.     Any  day,  however,  unquestionable 
evidence  of  glacial  or  pre-glacial  man   in   America  may  be  ex- 
humed.    There  is  no  reason  why  he  should  not  have  been  on  this 
continent  that  long  ago. 

2  These  conclusions,  based  at  the  time  they  were  written  (1867) 
on  studies  of  the   Morton  collections  of  skulls  in  Philadelphia, 
confirmed  by  J.  Aitken  Meigs  (Catalogue  of  Human   Crania),  are 
substantially  those  reached  by  Prof.  Virchow  in  his  Crania,  Ethnica 
Americana  (Berlin,  1892)  ;  whose  conclusions  should  be  checked  by 
the  observations  of  Prof.  G.  Sergi,  in  his  Le  Varieta  Umane,  1895. 

4 


50      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

velopment  an  antiquity  beyond  that  of  other  races, 
still  less  an  original  diversity  of  species. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  remains  of  primeval  art  and 
the  impress  he  made  upon  nature  bespeak  for  man  a 
residence  in  the  New  World  coeval  with  the  most  dis- 
tant events  of  history.  By  remains  of  art  I  do  not  so 
much  refer  to  those  desolate  palaces  which  crumble 
forgotten  in  the  gloom  of  tropical  woods,  nor  even  the 
enormous  earthworks  of  the  Mississippi  valley  covered 
with  the  mould  of  generations  of  forest  trees,  but  rather 
to  the  humbler  and  less  deceptive  relics  of  his  kitchens 
and  his  haunts. 

On  the  Atlantic  coast  one  often  sees  the  refuse  of 
Indian  villages,  where  generation  after  generation  have 
passed  their  summers  in  fishing,  and  left  the  bones, 
shells  and  charcoal  as  their  only  epitaph.  How  many 
such  summers  would  it  require  for  one  or  two  hundred 
people  thus  gradually  to  accumulate  a  mound  of  offal 
eight  or  ten  feet  high  and  a  hundred  yards  across,  as  is 
common  enough  ?  How  many  generations  to  heap  up 
that  at  the  mouth  of  the  Altamaha  River,  examined 
and  pronounced  exclusively  of  this  origin  by  Sir 
Charles  Lyell,1  which  is  about  this  height,  and  covers 
ten  acres  of  ground  ? 

Those  who,  like  myself,  have  tramped  over  many  a 
ploughed  field  in  search  of  arrow-heads,  must  have 
sometimes  been  amazed  at  the  numbers  which  are 
sown  over  the  face  of  our  country,  betokening  a  most 
prolonged  possession  of  the  soil  by  their  makers.  For 
a  hunting  population  is  always  sparse,  and  the  collec- 
tor finds  only  those  arrow-heads  which  lie  upon  the 
surface.  Even  a  certain  degree  of  civilization  is  most 

1  Second  Visit  to  the  United  States,  I  p.  252. 


ETHNO-BOTANY.  51 

ancient ;  for  the  evidences  are  abundant  that  the  mines 
of  California  and  Lake  Superior  were  worked  by  tribes 
using  metals  at  a  very  remote  epoch. 

Still  more  forcibly  does  nature  herself  bear  witness 
to  this  antiquity  of  possession.  Botanists  declare  that 
a  very  lengthy  course  of  cultivation  is  required  so  to 
alter  the  form  of  a  plant  that  it  can  no  longer  be  iden- 
tified with  the  wild  species ;  and  still  more  protracted 
must  be  the  artificial  propagation  for  it  to  lose  its 
power  of  independent  life,  and  to  rely  wholly  on  man 
to  preserve  it  from  extinction.  Now  this  is  precisely 
the  condition  of  the  maize,  tobacco,  cotton,  quinoa  and 
mandioca  plants,  and  of  that  species  of  palm  called  by 
botanists  the  Gulielma  speciosa;  all  have  been  cultivated 
from  immemorial  time  by  the  aborigines  of  America, 
and,  except  cotton,  by  no  other  race ;  few  of  them  can  be 
positively  identified  with  any  known  wild  species; 
several  are  sure  to  perish  unless  fostered  by  human 
care. 

What  numberless  ages  does  this  suggest?  How 
many  centuries  elapsed  ere  man  thought  of  cultivating 
Indian  corn  ?  How  many  more  ere  it  had  spread  over 
nearly  a  hundred  degrees  of  latitude,  and  lost  all 
semblance  to  its  original  form  ?  Who  has  the  temerity 
to  answer  these  questions  ?  The  judicious  thinker  will 
perceive  in  them  satisfactory  reasons  for  dropping  once 
for  all  the  vexed  inquiry, "  how  America  was  peopled," 
and  will  smile  at  its  imaginary  solutions,  whether  they 
suggest  Jews,  Japanese,  or,  as  some  say,  Egyptians.1 

While  these  and  other  considerations  testify  forcibly 

1  The  ethno-botany  of  America  was  studied  by  von  Martius  in 
his  Beitrage  zur  Ethnographic  und  Sprachenkunde  Amerikas,  Bd.  II.  ; 
and  has  received  productive  attention  later  from  J.  W.  Harsh- 
berger,  J.  W.  Fewkes  and  others. 


52      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

to  that  isolation  I  have  already  mentioned,  they  are 
almost  equally  positive  for  an  extensive  intercourse  in 
very  distant  ages  between  the  great  families  of  the  race, 
and  for  a  prevalent  unity  of  mental  type,  or  perhaps 
they  hint  at  a  still  visible  oneness  of  descent.  In  their 
stage  of  culture,  the  maize,  cotton  and  tobacco  could 
hardly  have  spread  so  widely  by  commerce  alone; 
although  the  activity  of  primitive  barter  must  be 
placed  very  high.  There  must  have  been  also  wide 
wanderings,  distant  colonization  by  war  or  in  peace, 
carrying  the  arts  of  a  tribe  bodily  into  remote  realms. 

We  cannot  overlook  the  unity  of  the  physical  type 
throughout  the  continent.  The  American  race  is  physi- 
cally more  homogeneous  than  any  other  on  the  globe. 
There  is  no  mistaking  a  group  of  American  Indians, 
whether  they  come  from  Chili  or  from  Canada,  from 
the  shores  of  Hudson  Bay  or  the  banks  of  the  Amazon. 
And  this  superficial  resemblance  is  a  correct  indication 
of  what  a  close  anatomical  study  confirms. 

Then  there  are  verbal  similarities  running  through 
wide  families  of  languages  which,  in  the  words  of  Pro- 
fessor Buschmann,  are  calculated  "  to  fill  us  with  be- 
wildering amazement,"1  some  of  which  will  hereafter 
be  pointed  out ;  and  lastly,  passing  to  the  psychologi- 
cal constitution  of  the  race,  we  may  quote  the  words  of 
a  sharp-sighted  naturalist,  whose  monograph  on  one  of 
its  tribes  is  unsurpassed  for  profound  reflections :  "  Not 
only  do  all  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  America  stand  on 
one  scale  of  related  culture,  but  that  mental  condition  of 
all  in  which  humanity  chiefly  mirrors  itself,  to  wit, 
their  religious  and  moral  consciousness,  this  source  of 
all  other  inner  and  outer  conditions,  is  one  with  all, 

1  Athapasldsche  Sprachstamm,  p.  164  (Berlin,  1856). 


MYTHICAL  PARALLELS.  53 

however  diverse  the  natural  influences  under  which 
they  live. m 

Penetrated  with  the  truth  of  these  views,  all  artificial 
divisions  into  tropical  or  temperate,  civilized  or  bar- 
barous, will  in  the  present  work,  so  far  as  possible,  be 
avoided,  and  the  race  will  be  studied  as  a  unit,  its  re- 
ligion as  the  development  of  ideas  common  to  all  its 
members,  and  its  myths  as  the  garb  thrown  around 
these  ideas  by  imaginations  more  or  less  fertile,  but 
seeking  everywhere  to  embody  the  same  notions. 

In  the  pursuance  of  this  study  we  shall  discover 
similarities  in  the  mythical  concepts  of  the  red  race  as 
striking  as  are  its  peculiar  physical  features,  and  not 
unfrequently  not  less  singular  analogies  with  the  tropes 
and  tales,  the  rituals  and  symbols,  in  which  many  a 
nation  of  the  old  world  or  of  the  distant  islands  of 
the  east,  chose  as  the  appropriate  forms  under  which  to 
express  their  notions  of  the  gods  and  their  doings. 

The  explanation  of  such  parallels  has  exercised  the 
minds  of  students  of  mythology  and  folk-lore.  There 
are  those  who  would  see  in  them  sufficient  evidence  of 
former  contact  and  transference,  while  another  school 
believes  that  unless  there  is  precise  proof  of  connec- 
tion in  the  tale  itself  or  from  other  sources,  it  is  more 
likely  that  the  true  explanation  lies  in  the  oneness  of 
the  human  mind,  the  narrow  limits  in  which  it  works 
in  primitive  conditions,  and  the  almost  fatal  certainty 
with  which  it  will  seek  the  same  concrete  forms  under 
which  to  convey  a  given  abstract  idea. 

We  may  indeed  assume  that  a  myth  has  been  dif- 
fused from  one  source  when  it  is  found  with  marked 
peculiarities  in  nations  in  geographical  contact ;  when 

1  Marti  us,  Von  dem  Rechtzustande  unter  den  Ureinuiohnem  Brasiliens, 
p.  77. 


54      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

the  proper  names  it  contains  are  the  same  in  different 
versions,  or  obviously  merely  translations  the  one  from 
the  other ;  where  the  features  of  one  landscape  and 
culture  are  retained  in  another  and  different  horizon; 
or  where  a  tribe  preserved  the  memory  of  the  importa- 
tion of  the  tale  or  ritual  from  a  foreign  center. 

Thus,  as  Dr.  Boas  and  Father  Morice  have  pointed 
out,  the  tribes  of  the  northwest  coast  as  well  as  the 
Athabascan  bands  far  inland,  drew  largely  from  some 
common  source  of  mythological  conception ;  we  know 
as  a  fact  that  the  Eskimos  and  the  Algonkins  of  Labra- 
dor "  swapped  stories  "  until  the  legendary  lore  of  the 
one  nation  colored  that  of  the  other ;  the  same  has  been 
shown  by  Von  den  Steinen  and  Ehrenreich  of  the  tales 
of  the  Arawacks,  Tupis  and  Caribs  of  South  America ; 
and  the  evidence  is  incontrovertible  that  the  peculiar 
divinatory  calendar  of  Mexico  and  Central  America 
with  its  mass  of  associated  rite  and  myth  was  in  use 
among  tribes  belonging  to  seven  different  linguistic 
stocks. 

These  and  similar  examples  testify  amply  to  the 
transference  of  myths ;  but  when  writers  would  bring 
into  prominence  the  mere  external  similarities  of  nar- 
ratives, no  matter  how  minute  these  may  seem,  and  on 
these  alone  insist  that  there  was  an  early  historic  con- 
nection between  Yucatan  and  New  Zealand,  or  between 
tribes  of  Hudson  Bay  and  Syria,  or  of  Mexico  and  an- 
cient Egypt,  or  those  of  the  shores  of  the  Amazon  and  the 
Siberian  Lena — as  has  repeatedly  been  set  forth  and  is 
still  advocated  by  some — then  the  student  of  myths 
who  follows  the  precepts  of  a  sound  anthropology  will 
prefer  the  interpretation  which  in  such  recognizes 
merely  psychological  parallels,  proofs  of  the  unity  of 
the  soul  of  man,  obliged  or  inclined  to  follow  the  same 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE.  55 

paths  when  setting  forth  on  that  quest  which  has  for  its 
goal  the  invisible  world  and  the  home  of  the  gods. l 

BIBLIOGEAPHICAL  NOTE. 

As  the  subject  of  American  mythology  is  an  unfamiliar  one  to 
most  readers,  and  as  in  its  discussion  everything  depends  on  a 
careful  selection  of  authorities,  it  is  well  at  the  outset  to  review 
briefly  what  has  already  been  written  upon  it,  and  to  assign  the 
relative  amount  of  weight  that  in  the  following  pages  will  be  given 
to  the  works  most  frequently  quoted.  The  conclusions  I  have  ar- 
rived at  are  at  times  different  from  those  who  have  previously 
touched  upon  the  topic,  so  such  a  step  seems  doubly  advisable. 

The  first  who  undertook  a  philosophical  survey  of  American  re- 
ligions was  Dr.  Samuel  Farmer  Jarvis,  in  1819  (A  Discourse  on 
the  Religion  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,  Collections  of 
the  New  York  Historical  Society,  vol.  in.,  New  York,  1821).  He 
confined  himself  to  the  tribes  north  of  Mexico,  a  difficult  portion  of 

1  The  discussion  of  this  vital  question  has  been  carried  on  of  late 
years  by  Andrew  Lang,  J.  Jacobs,  E.  S.  Hartland,  and  others  with 
reference  to  the  myths  and  tales  of  the  Old  World  ;  and  concerning 
those  of  America  I  would  cite  Franz  Boas,  Indianische  Sagen  von  der 
Nord-Pacifischen  Kuste,  and  Jour.  Amer.  Folk-lore,  March,  1891 ,  and 
March,  1896;  Emile  Petitot,  Accord  des  Mythologies  ;  Cyrus  Thomas, 
in  American  Antiquarian;  Eev.  A.  G.  Morice,  in  Trans.  Roy.  Soc. 
Canada,  1892  ;  C.  G.  Leland,  The  Algonquin  Legends  of  New  Eng- 
land, Introduction ;  Von  den  Steinen,  Die  Naturvolker  Zentral-Brasil- 
iens;  P.  Ehrenreich,  Beitrdge  zur  Volkerkunde  Brasiliens  ;  etc.,  etc. 
To  infer  from  such  similarities  that  they  are  the  "relics  of  an 
ancient  period  of  culture  in  Asia  and  Europe,"  as  does  Goeken  in 
his  essay  on  the  religious  life  of  the  Bella  Coola  Indians  (in  Pro- 
ceedings-of  the  Berlin  Museum)  is  quite  as  unfounded  as  is  the  theory 
that  from  an  enumeration  of  the  "elements"  or  incidents  in  a 
story  we  can  decide  its  relationship.  Such  "  elements"  arise  inde- 
pendently, often  in  the  same  connection,  owing  to  the  uniformity 
of  the  action  of  the  human  mind  under  similar  conditions  and 
seeking  the  expression  of  similar  ideas.  This  is  the  anthropologic 
principle  so  vigorously  and  ably  defended  by  Professor  A.  Bastian, 
of  Berlin,  in  his  numerous  and  profound  works. 


56      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

the  field,  and  at  that  time  not  very  well  known.  The  notion  of  a 
state  of  primitive  civilization  prevented  Dr.  Jarvis  from  forming 
any  correct  estimate  of  the  native  religions,  as  it  led  him  to  look 
upon  them  as  deteriorations  from  purer  faiths  instead  of  develop- 
ments. Thus  he  speaks  of  them  as  having  "departed  less  than 
among  any  other  nation  from  the  form  of  primeval  truth,"  and 
also  mentions  their  "wonderful  uniformity"  (pp.  219,  221). 

The  well-known  American  ethnologist,  Mr.  E.  G.  Squier,  also 
published  a  work  on  the  subject,  of  wider  scope  than  its  title 
indicated  (The  Serpent  Symbol  in  America,  New  York,  1851). 
Though  written  in  a  much  more  liberal  spirit  than  the  preceding, 
it  is  in  the  interests  of  one  school  of  mythology,  and  it  the  rather 
shallow  physical  one,  so  fashionable  in  Europe  half  a  century  ago. 
Thus,  with  a  sweeping  generalization,  he  says,  ' '  The  religions  or 
superstitions  of  the  American  nations,  however  different  they  may 
appear  to  the  superficial  glance,  are  rudimentally  the  same,  and 
are  only  modifications  of  that  primitive  system  which  under  its 
physical  aspect  has  been  denominated  Sun  or  Fire  worship"  (p. 
111).  With  this  he  combines  the  doctrine,  that  the  chief  topic  of 
mythology  is  the  adoration  of  the  generative  power  ;  and  to  rescue 
such  views  from  their  materializing  tendencies,  imagines  to  coun- 
terbalance them  a  clear  universal  monotheism.  "We  claim  to 
have  shown,"  he  says  (p.  154),  "that  the  grand  conception  of  a 
Supreme  Unity  and  the  doctrine  of  the  reciprocal  principles  ex- 
isted in  America  in  a  well-defined  and  clearly  recognized  form  ;  " 
and  elsewhere  that  ' '  the  monotheistic  idea  stands  out  clearly  in 
all  the  religions  of  America"  (p.  151). 

These  are  views  which  to-day  probably  have  no  defenders  ;  cer- 
tainly not  among  those  who  have  made  a  study  of  the  scientific 
analysis  of  primitive  religions. 

The  important  work  on  the  Indians  edited  by  Mr.  Henry  K.  School- 
craft  (History,  Condition  and  Prospects  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United 
States,  Washington,  1851-59)  derives  its  chief  or  perhaps  only 
value  from  the  reports  of  original  observers  which  it  contains. 
The  general  views  of  aboriginal  history  and  religion  expressed  by 
its  editor  are  shallow  and  untrustworthy. 

A  German  professor,  Dr.  J.  G.  Miiller,  about  forty  years  ago, 
wrote  quite  a  voluminous  work  on  American  primitive  religions 
(Geschichte  der  Amerikanischen  Ur-religwnen,  pp.  707  :  Basel,  1855). 
His  theory  is  that  "  at  the  south  a  worship  of  nature  with  the 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE.  57 

adoration  of  the  sun  as  its  centre,  at  the  north  a  fear  of  spirits 
combined  with  fetichism,  made  up  the  two  fundamental  divisions 
of  the  religion  of  the  red  race"  (pp.  89,  90).  This  imaginary 
antithesis  he  traces  out  between  the  Algonkian  and  Apalachian 
tribes,  and  between  the  "Toltecs"  of  Guatemala  and  the  Aztecs  of 
Mexico.  His  quotations  are  nearly  all  at  second  hand,  and  so 
little  does  he  criticize  his  facts  as  to  confuse  the  Vaudoux  worship 
of  the  Negroes  with  that  of  Votan  in  Chiapa.  While  an  indus- 
trious compilation,  his  volume  must  be  used  with  constant  caution. 

Very  much  better  was  the  Anthropology  of  the  late  Dr.  Theo- 
dore Waitz  (Anthropologie  der  Naturvcelker :  Leipzig,  1862-66).  No 
more  comprehensive,  sound  and  critical  work  on  the  indigenes  of 
America  as  a  whole  has  since  been  written.  But  on  their  relig- 
ions the  author  is  unfortunately  defective,  being  led  astray  by  the 
hasty  and  groundless  generalizations  of  others.  His  great  anxiety, 
moreover,  to  subject  all  moral  sciences  to  a  realistic  philosophy, 
was  peculiarly  fatal  to  any  correct  appreciation  of  religious  growth, 
and  here,  therefore,  his  views  are  neither  new  nor  tenable. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  we  cannot  praise  the  work  in  this  depart- 
ment of  the  indefatigable  and  meritorious  Abbe  E.  C.  Brasseur 
(de  Bourbourg).  His  fixed  idea  was  to  explain  American  myth- 
ology after  the  example  of  Euhemerus,  of  Thessaly,  as  the  apo- 
theosis of  history.  This  theory,  which  has  been  repeatedly 
applied  to  other  mythologies  with  invariable  failure,  is  now  dis- 
owned by  every  distinguished  student  of  European  and  Oriental 
antiquity  ;  and  to  seek  to  introduce  it  into  American  religions  is 
simply  to  render  them  still  more  obscure  and  unattractive,  and  to 
deprive  them  of  the  only  general  interest  they  now  have,  that  of 
illustrating  the  gradual  development  of  the  religious  ideas  of 
humanity. 

But  while  thus  regretting  the  use  he  has  made  of  them,  all  in- 
terested in  American  antiquity  cannot  too  much  thank  this  inde- 
fatigable explorer  for  the  priceless  materials  he  unearthed  in 
the  neglected  libraries  of  Spain  and  Central  America,  and  laid 
before  the  public.  For  the  present  purpose  the  most  significant 
of  these  is  the  sacred  national  book  of  the  Quiches,  a  tribe  of 
Guatemala.  This  contains  their  legends,  written  in  the  original 
tongue,  and  transcribed  by  Father  Francisco  Ximenes  about  1725. 
The  manuscripts  of  this  missionary  were  used  early  in  the  present 
century,  by  Don  Felix;  Cabrera,  but  were  supposed  to  be  entirely 


58      GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  RED  RACE. 

lost  even  by  the  Abbe"  Brasseur  himself  in  1850  (Lettre  a  3/.  le  Due 
de  Valmy,  Mexique,  Oct.  15,  1850).  Made  aware  of  their  import- 
ance by  the  expressions  of  regret  used  in  the  Abbess  letters,  Dr. 
C.  Scherzer,  in  1854,  was  fortunate  enough  to  discover  them  in  the 
library  of  the  University  of  San  Carlos  in  the  City  of  Guatemala. 
The  legends  were  in  Quiche  with  a  Spanish  translation  and  scholia. 
The  Spanish  was  copied  by  Dr.  Scherzer  and  published  in  Vienna, 
in  1856,  under  the  title  Las  Histarias  del  Origen  de  los  Indios  de 
Guatemala,  por  el  R.  P.  F.  Francisco  Ximenes.  In  1855  the  Abbfe 
Brasseur  took  a  copy  of  the  original  which  he  brought  out  at 
Paris  in  1861,  with  a  translation  of  his  own,  under  the  title  Vuh 
Popol:  Le  Livre  Sacre  des  Quiches  et  ka  Mythes  de  FAntiquite  Ameri- 
coine.  Internal  evidence  proves  that  these  legends  were  written 
down  by  a  converted  native  some  time  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
They  carry  the  national  history  back  about  two  centuries,  beyond 
which  all  is  professedly  mythical .  Although  both  translations  are 
colored  by  the  peculiar  views  of  their  makers,  and  lacking  in 
accuracy,  this  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  works  on  American 
mythology  extant. 

Another  authority  of  inestimable  value  was  placed  within  the 
reach  of  scholars  some  years  ago.  This  is  the  reprint  of  the  Rela- 
tions de  la  Nouvelle  France,  containing  the  annual  reports  of  the 
Jesuit  missionaries  among  the  Iroquois  and  Algonkins  from  and 
after  1611. 

The  annual  reports  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  at  Washington, 
which  began  to  appear  in  1881,  contain  a  mass  of  material  indis- 
pensable to  the  student  of  the  myths  of  the  Indians  dwelling 
within  the  area  of  the  United  States.  Though  the  contributions 
contained  vary  in  merit  with  the  faculties  and  opportunities  of  the 
observer  for  investigations  of  this  nature,  they  all  have  solid 
value.  Especially  those  by  the  late  Eev.  James  Owen  Dorsey  may 
be  mentioned  as  models  of  their  kind. 

Canadian  legends  and  tales  have  been  diligently  and  accurately 
edited  by  the  Abbe  Petitot  (Traditions  Indiennes  du  Canada,  1888, 
etc.) ;  those  on  the  northwest  coast  by  Dr.  Franz  Boas  ;  and  at  an 
earlier  date  those  of  the  vanishing  Californian  tribes  by  Mr. 
Stephen  Powers  (Indian  Tribes  of  California,  1877). 

On  the  mythology  of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  the  compre- 
hensive work  of  H.  H.  Bancroft  (The  Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  States, 
1875)  is  important  for  its  encyclopaedic  survey  of  the  literature  of 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE.  59 

the  subject,  but  does  not  attempt  a  serious  analysis  of  the  religious 
concepts  of  the  tribes.  For  this  we  must  turn  to  the  numerous 
essays  of  Professor  Eduard  Seler,  of  Berlin ;  of  Dr.  P.  Schellhas  ; 
and  of  Alfredo  Chavero  in  Mexico. 

Our  understanding  of  Peruvian  mythology  has  been  greatly  fur- 
thered by  the  collations  and  linguistic  analyses  of  von  Tschudi 
and  Dr.  Middendorf ;  while  the  great  stems  of  eastern  South 
America,  the  Caribs,  the  Tupi-Guaranis  and  the  Arawacks,  have 
been  fruitfully  examined  by  Barbosa  Kodriguez,  von  den  Steinen, 
Paul  Ehrenreich,  Lafone  Quevedo  and  others. 

Singularly  few  attempts  have  been  made  toward  the  philosophi- 
cal analysis  of  American  religions,  either  in  the  whole  or  of  any 
one  tribe.  Nearly  all  writers  have  confined  themselves  to  collect- 
ing tales,  or  else  have  contented  themselves  with  such  superficiali- 
ties as  "sun  worship,"  "snake  worship,"  etc.  Major  J.  W. 
Powell's  Mythology  of  the  North  American  Indians  (1881)  aims  at 
something  broader,  but  is  too  brief  to  be  satisfactory.  Dr.  Albert 
Eeville's  Origin  and  Growth  of  Religion  as  Illustrated  by  the  Native  Re- 
ligions of  Mexico  and  Peru  (Hibbart  lectures,  1884),  reveals  but  a 
second-hand  acquaintance  with  those  religions,  and  none  what- 
ever with  the  languages  in  which  they  were  couched.  The  Abb6 
Petitot's  Accord  des  Mythologies  (Paris,  1890),  based  on  American 
religions,  measures  all  by  a  merely  dogmatic  standard. 

A  mass  of  new  material  has  been  provided  within  the  last  score 
of  years  for  the  study  of  American  mythology.  Much  of  it  offers 
the  expression  of  religious  thought  genuinely  aboriginal  in  char- 
acter ;  but  much  is  also  obviously  modified  by  contact  with  the 
whites  and  by  the  infiltration  of  ideas  belonging  to  their  intellec- 
tual horizon. 


60  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   IDEA  OF  GOD. 

An  intuition  common  to  the  species. — Words  expressing  it  in 
American  languages  derived  either  from  ideas  of  above  in  space, 
or  of  life  manifested  by  breath. — Examples. — No  conscious  mono- 
theism, and  but  little  idea  of  immateriality  discoverable. — Still 
less  any  moral  dualism  of  deities,  the  Great  Good  Spirit  and  the 
Great  Bad  Spirit  being  alike  terms  and  notions  of  foreign  im- 
portation. 

TF  we  accept  the  definition  that  mythology  is  the  idea 
of  God  expressed  in  symbol,  figure  and  narrative, 
and  always  struggling  toward  a  clearer  utterance,  it  is 
well  not  only  to  trace  this  idea  in  its  very  earliest  em- 
bodiment in  language,  but  also,  for  the  sake  of  com- 
parison, to  ask  what  is  its  latest  and  most  approved 
expression.  The  reply  to  this  is  given  us  by  Immanuel 
Kant.  He  has  shown  that  our  reason,  dwelling  on  the 
facts  of  experience,  constantly  seeks  the  principles 
which  connect  them  together,  and  only  rests  satisfied 
in  the  conviction  that  there  is  a  highest  and  first  prin- 
ciple, which  reconciles  all  their  discrepancies  and  binds 
them  into  one.  This  he  calls  the  Ideal  of  Reason.  It 
must  be  true,  for  it  is  evolved  from  the  laws  of  reason, 
our  only  test  of  truth. 

Furthermore,  the  sense  of  personality  and  the  voice 
of  conscience,  analyzed  to  their  sources,  can  only  be 
explained  by  the  assumption  of  an  infinite  personality 
and  an  absolute  standard  of  right.  Or,  if  to  some  all 
this  appears  but  wire-drawn  metaphysical  subtlety, they 


NOTION  OF  DIVINITY.  61 

are  welcome  to  the  definition  of  the  realist,  that  the 
idea  of  God  is  the  sum  of  those  intelligent  activities 
which  the  individual,  reasoning  from  the  analogy  of 
his  own  actions,  imagines  to  be  behind  and  to  bring 
about  natural  phenomena.  If  either  of  these  be  cor- 
rect, it  were  hard  to  conceive  how  any  tribe  or  even 
any  sane  man  could  be  without  some  notion  of  divinity. 

Certainly  in  America  no  instance  of  its  absence  has 
been  discovered.  Obscure,  grotesque,  unworthy  it  often 
was,  but  everywhere  man  was  oppressed  with  a  sensus 
numinis,  a  feeling  that  invisible,  powerful  agencies 
were  at  work  around  him,  who,  as  they  willed,  could 
help  or  hurt  him.  In  every  heart  was  an  altar  to  the 
Unknown  God.1 

Not  that  it  was  customary  to  attach  any  idea  of 
unity  to  these  unseen  powers.  The  supposition  that  in 
ancient  times  and  in  very  unenlightened  conditions, 
before  mythology  had  grown,  a  monotheism  pre- 
vailed, which  afterwards  at  various  times  was  revived 
by  reformers,  is  a  belief  that  should  have  passed  away 
when  the  delights  of  savage  life  and  the  praises  of  a 
state  of  nature  ceased  to  be  the  themes  of  philosophers. 
We  are  speaking  of  a  people  little  capable  of  abstrac- 
tion. The  exhibitions  of  force  in  nature  seemed  to 
them  the  manifestations  of  that  mysterious  power  felt 
by  their  self-consciousness ;  to  combine  these  various 
manifestations  and  recognize  them  as  the  operations  of 
one  personality,  was  a  step  not  easily  taken.  Yet  He 

1  Of  course,  the  reader  of  travels  will  often  meet  such  expres- 
sions as  that  of  Lovisato  about  the  Yahgans  of  Tierra  del  Fuego — 
"Non  hanno  alcuna  nozione  di  Dio,  quindi  nessuna  religione," 
etc.  (Appunti  Etnografid  sulla  Terra  del  Fuoco,  p.  32).  These  as- 
sertions may  easily  be  corrected  from  the  information  of  closer 
observers. 


62  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us.  "Whenever  man 
thinks  clearly,  or  feels  deeply,  he  conceives  God  as 
self-conscious  unity,"  says  Carriere,  with  admirable 
insight ;  and  elsewhere,  "  we  have  monotheism,  not  in 
contrast  to  polytheism,  not  clear  to  the  thought,  but  in 
living  intuition  in  the  religious  sentiment."1 

Thus  it  was  among  the  Indians.  Therefore  a  word 
is  usually  found  in  their  languages  analogous  to  none 
in  any  European  tongue,  a  word  comprehending  all 
manifestations  of  the  unseen  world,  yet  conveying  no 
sense  of  personal  unity.  It  has  been  rendered  spirit, 
demon,  God,  devil,  mystery,  magic,  but  commonly  and 
rather  absurdly  by  the  English  and  French,  ''medi- 
cine." In  the  Algonkin  dialects  this  word  is  manito 
and  oki,  in  Iroquois  otkon,  in  the  Hidatsa  hopa ;  the 
Dakota  has  wakan,  the  Aztec  teotl,  the  Quichua  huaca, 
and  the  Maya  ku. 

They  all  express  in  its  most  general  form  the  idea  of 
the  supernatural.  And  as  in  this  word,  supernatural, 
we  see  a  transfer  of  a  conception  of  place,  and  that  it 
literally  means  that  which  is  above  the  natural  world, 
so  in  such  as  we  can  analyze  of  these  vague  and  primi- 
tive terms  the  same  trope  appears  discoverable.  Wakan 
as  an  adverb  means  above,  oki  is  but  another  orthog- 
raphy for  oghee,  and  otkon  seems  allied  to  hetken,  both  of 
which  have  the  same  signification.1 

1  Die  Sunst  im  Zusammenhang  der  Culturentwickelung,   i.  pp.  50, 
252. 

2  On  wakan  see  Eiggs,  Dakota  English  Diet.  s.v.  and  Rohrig,  On 
the  Language  of  the  Dakota,  Smithsonian  Report,  1871.     Another 
example  may  be  added  from  the  Guarani  of  South  America,  in 
which    tupa  means  the  supernatural,  tupir  to   mount  or  ascend. 
The  word  hua'ka  belongs  both  to  Quichua  and  Aymara.     It  has 
been  derived  from  huekey,  to  weep  (Zarate),  or  from  huaikow,  to 


THE  HIGHER  POWERS.  63 

The  transfer  is  no  mere  figure  of  speech,  but  has  its 
origin  in  the  very  texture  of  the  human  mind.  The 
heavens,  the  upper  regions,  are  in  every  religion  the 
supposed  abode  of  the  divine.  What  is  higher  is  al- 
ways the  stronger  and  the  nobler  ;  a  superior  is  one  who 
is  better  than  we  are,  and  therefore  a  chieftain  in  Algon- 
kin  is  called  oghee-ma,  the  higher  one. 

There  is,  moreover,  a  naif  and  spontaneous  instinct 
which  leads  man  in  his  ecstasies  of  joy,  and  in  his 
paroxysms  of  fear  or  pain,  to  lift  his  hands  and  eyes  to 
the  overhanging  firmament.  There  the  sun  and  bright 
stars  sojourn,  emblems  of  glory  and  stability.  Its 
azure  vault  has  a  mysterious  attraction  which  invites 
the  eye  to  gaze  longer  and  longer  into  its  infinite 
depths.1  Its  deep  color  brings  thoughts  of  serenity, 
peace,  sunshine  and  warmth.  Even  the  rudest  hunt- 
ing tribes  felt  these  sentiments,  and  as  a  metaphor  in 
their  speeches,  and  as  a  paint  expressive  of  friendly 
design,  blue  was  in  wide  use  among  them.* 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  the  idea  of  God  was  linked  to 

dig  a  hole  (von  Tschudi) .  With  equal  probability  it  may  be  from 
the  same  radical  as  huichay,  to  rise,  to  ascend.  (Comp.  Tschudi, 
Beitrage  zur  Kennt.  des  Alien  Peru,  p.  146 ;  Middendorf,  Keshua 
Worterbuch,  p.  452.) 

1  A  distinguished  authority,  M.  Cuoq,  has  denied  that  old  ia 
Algonkian  and  that  okima  is  derived  from  oki  in  the  sense  of 
above.  The  former  belongs  to  the  southern  dialects  and  certainly 
is  from  Lenape  wochki,  at  the  top  or  above  ;  and  as  certainly  okima 
has  the  derivation  I  assign  it.  Comp.  Cuoq,  Lexique  de  la  Langue 
Iroqwise,  p.  176 ;  Brinton  and  Anthony,  Lendpe-English  Dic- 
tionary, p.  166,  and  Baraga,  Otchipwe  Diet.,  p.  315.  Trumbull  de- 
rives Manito  from  a  verb  anit,  to  surpass,  to  be  greater  than. 
Koger  Williams,  Language  of  America,  p.  147,  note. 

*  Loskiel,  Geschichte  der  Mission  der  Evang.  Brueder,  p.  63 
(Barby,  1789). 


64  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

the  heavens  long  ere  man  asked  himself,  are  the 
heavens  material  and  God  spiritual,  is  He  one,  or  is  He 
many  ?  Numerous  languages  bear  trace  of  this.  The 
Latin  Deus,  the  Greek  Zeus,  the  Sanscrit  Dyaus,  the 
Chinese  Tien,  all  originally  refer  to  the  sky  above,  and 
our  own  word  heaven  is  often  employed  synonymously 
with  God. 

There  is  at  first  no  personification  in  these  expres- 
sions. They  embrace  all  unseen  agencies,  they  are 
void  of  personality,  and  yet  to  the  illogical  primitive 
man  there  is  nothing  contradictory  in  making  them  the 
object  of  his  prayers.  The  Mayas  had  legions  of  Gods ; 
"  ku,"  says  their  historian,1  "  does  not  signify  any  par- 
ticular god ;  yet  their  prayers  are  sometimes  addressed 
to  kue"  which  is  the  same  word  in  the  vocative  case. 

As  the  Latins  called  their  united  divinities  Superi, 
those  above,  so  Captain  John  Smith  found  that  the 
Powhatans  of  Virginia  employed  the  word  oK,  above, 
in  the  same  sense,  and  it  even  had  passed  into  a  definite 
personification  among  them  in  the  shape  of  an  "  idol 
of  wood  evil-favoredly  carved."  In  purer  dialects  of  the 
Algonkin  it  is  always  indefinite,  as  in  the  terms  nipoon 
oH,  spirit  of  summer,  pipoon  oki,  spirit  of  winter.  Per- 
haps the  word  was  introduced  into  Iroquois  by  the 
Hurons,  neighbors  and  associates  of  the  Algonkins. 
The  Hurons  applied  it  to  that  demoniac  power  "  who 
rules  the  seasons  of  the  year,  who  holds  the  winds  and 
the  waves  in  leash,  who  can  give  fortune  to  their  un- 
dertakings, and  relieve  all  their  wants."2 

In  another  and  far  distant  branch  of  the  Iroquois, 
the  Nottoways  of  southern  Virginia,  it  reappears  under 

1  Cogolludo,  Historia  de  Yiicathan,  lib.  iv.  cap.  vii. 
J  Ed.  de  la  Nouv.  France.     An  1636,  p.  107. 


THE  HEA VENLY  FATHER.  65 

the  curious  form  guaker,  doubtless  a  corruption  of  the 
Powhatan  qui-oki,  lesser  gods.1  The  proper  Iroquois 
name  of  him  to  whom  they  prayed  was  garonhia, 
which  again  turns  out  on  examination  to  be  their 
common  word  for  sky,  and  again  in  all  probability 
from  the  verbal  root  gar,  to  be  above.2  The  Californian 
tribes  spoke  of  their  chief  deity  as  "  The  Old  Man 
above  "3  reminding  us  of  "  Der  Alte  im  Himmel "  of 
Mephistopheles ;  and  the  Creek  term  for  their  Jove  is 
"  He  who  lives  in  the  sky."*  In  the  legends  of  the 
Aztecs  and  Quiches  such  phrases  as  "  Heart  of  the 
Sky,"  "  Lord  of  the  Sky,"  "  Prince  of  the  Azure  Plan- 
isphere," "He  above  all,"  are  of  frequent  occurrence; 
and  by  a  still  bolder  metaphor,  the  Araucanians,  ac- 
cording to  Molina,  entitled  their  greatest  god  "The 
Soul  of  the  Sky." 

This  last  expression  leads  to  another  train  of  thought. 
As  the  philosopher,  pondering  on  the  workings  of  self- 
consciousness,  recognizes  that  various  pathways  lead 
up  to  God,  so  the  primitive  man,  in  forming  his  lan- 
guage, sometimes  trod  one,  sometimes  another.  What- 
ever else  skeptics  have  questioned,  no  one  has  yet  pre- 

1  This  word  is  found  in  Gallatin's  vocabularies  (Transactions  of 
the  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.,  vol.  ii.),  and  may  have  partially  induced  that 
distinguished  ethnologist  to  ascribe,  as  he  does  in  more  than  one 
place,  whatever  notions  the  eastern  tribes  had  of  a  Supreme  Being 
to  the  teachings  of  the  Quakers. 

2  Bruyas,  Radices  Verborum  Iroquceorum,  p.  84.    This  work  is  in 
Shea's  Library  of  American  Linguistics,  and  is  a  most  valuable 
contribution    to  philology.    The  same  etymology  is   given    by 
Lafitau,  Mozurs  des  Sauvages,  etc.,  p.  65.     Cuoq.  Lexique Iroquoise,  p. 
106. 

•  H,  H.  Bancroft,  Native  Eaces  of  the  Pacific  States,  vol.  III.,  p.  158. 

*  A.  T.  Gatschet,  Migration  Legend  of  the  Creeks,  vol.  I.,  p.  216. 
I  may  add  the  Choctaw,  yvba paik,  "Our  Father  Above." 


66  THE  IDEA  OP  GOD. 

sumed  to  doubt  that  if  a  God  and  a  soul  exist  at  all, 
they  are  of  like  essence. 

This  firm  belief  has  left  its  impress  on  language  in 
the  names  devised  to  express  the  supernal,  the  spirit- 
ual world.  If  we  seek  hints  from  idioms  more  familiar 
to  us  than  the  tongues  of  the  Indians,  and  take  for  ex- 
ample this  word  spiritual,  we  find  it  is  from  the  Latin 
spirare,  to  blow,  to  breathe.  If  in  Latin  again  we  look 
for  the  derivation  of  animus,  the  mind,  anima,  the  soul, 
they  point  to  the  Greek  anemos,  wind,  and  aemi,  to 
blow.  In  Greek  the  words  for  soul  or  spirit,  psuche, 
pneuma,  thumos,  all  are  directly  from  verbal  roots  ex- 
pressing the  motion  of  the  wind  or  the  breath.  The 
Hebrew  word  ruah  is  translated  in  the  Old  Testament 
sometimes  by  wind,  sometimes  by  spirit,  sometimes  by 
breath.  The  Egyptian  kneph  is  another  example. 

Etymologically,  in  fact,  ghosts  and  gusts,  breaths  and 
breezes,  the  Great  Spirit  and  the  Great  Wind,  are  one 
and  the  same.  It  is  easy  to  guess  the  reason  of  this. 
The  soul  is  the  life,  the  life  is  the  breath.  Invisible, 
imponderable,  quickening  with  vigorous  motion,  slack- 
ening in  rest  and  sleep,  passing  quite  away  in  death,  it 
is  the  most  obvious  sign  of  life.  All  nations  grasped 
the  analogy  and  identified  the  one  with  the  other.  But 
the  breath  is  nothing  but  wind.  How  easy,  therefore, 
to  look  upon  the  wind  that  moves  up  and  down  and  to 
and  fro  upon  the  earth,  that  carries  the  clouds,  itself 
unseen,  that  calls  forth  the  terrible  tempests  and  the 
various  seasons,  as  the  breath,  the  spirit  of  God,  as 
God  himself?  So  in  the  Mosaic  record  of  creation,  it 
is  said  "  a  mighty  wind"  passed  over  the  formless  sea 
and  brought  forth  the  world,  and  when  the  Almighty 
gave  to  the  clay  a  living  soul,  he  is  said  to  have 
breathed  into  it  "  the  wind  of  lives." 


LIFE  AND  BREATH.  67 

Armed  with  these  analogies,  we  turn  to  the  primi- 
tive tongues  of  America,  and  find  them  there  as  dis- 
tinct as  in  the  Old  World.  In  Dakota  niya  is  literally 
breath,  figuratively  life;  Elliott  in  his  translation  of 
the  Bible  into  the  Massachusetts  tongue  renders  soul  by 
nashanonk,  a  breathing ;  in  Netela  pints  is  life,  breath, 
and  soul ;  silla,  in  Eskimo,  means  air,  it  means  wind, 
but  it  is  also  the  word  that  conveys  the  highest  idea  of 
the  world  as  a  whole,  and  the  reasoning  faculty.  The 
supreme  existence  they  call  Sillam  Innua,  Owner  of  the 
Air,  or  of  the  All ;  or  Sillam  Nelega,  Lord  of  the  Air  or 
Wind.  In  the  Yakama  tongue  of  Oregon  wkrisha  signi- 
fies there  is  wind,  wkrishwit  life ;  with  the  Aztecs,  ehecatt 
expressed  both  air,  life,  and  the  soul,  and  person- 
ified in  their  myths  it  was  said  to  have  been  bom 
of  the  breath  of  Tezcatlipoca,  their  highest  divinity, 
who  is  himself  often  called  Yoalli  ehecatl,  the  Wind  of 
Night.1 

The  descent  is,  indeed,  almost  perceptible  which 
leads  to  the  personification  of  the  wind  as  God,  which 
merges  this  manifestation  of  life  and  power  in  one 
with  its  unseen,  unknown  cause.  Thus  it  was  a  worthy 
epithet  which  the  Creeks  applied  to  their  supreme  in- 
vincible ruler,  when  they  addressed  him  as  ESAUGETUH 
EMISSEE,  Master  of  Breath,*  and  doubtless  it  was  at  first 
but  a  title  of  equivalent  purport  which  the  Cherokees, 

1  My  authorities  are  Eiggs,  Diet,  of  the  Dakota,  Boscana,  Account 
of  New  California,  Kichardson's  and  Egede's  Eskimo  Vocabularies, 
Pandosy,  Gram,  and  Diet,  of  the  Yakama  (Shea's  Lib.  of  Am.  Lin- 
guistics), and  Molina  for  the  Aztec. 

2  Properly,  isakita  immissi,  "He  who  carries  the  life  or  breath 
for  others."     A.  S.  Gatschet,  Migration  Legend  of  the  Greeks,  vol.  I., 
p.  216.     "This  conception,"  adds  that  writer,  "is  as  thoroughly 
North  American  as  Jahve  is  Semitic." 


68  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

their  neighbors,  were  wont  to  employ,  OONAWLEH  UNGGI, 
Eldest  of  Winds,  but  rapidly  leading  to  a  complete 
identification  of  the  divine  with  the  natural  pheno- 
mena of  meteorology.  This  seems  to  have  taken  place 
in  the  same  group  of  nations,  for  the  original  Choctaw 
word  for  Deity  was  HUSHTOLI,  the  Storm  Wind.1 

The  idea,  indeed,  was  constantly  being  lost  in  the 
symbol.  In  the  legends  of  the  Quiches,  the  mysterious 
creative  power  is  HURAKAN,  a  name  of  no  appropriate- 
ness in  their  language,  one  which  was  perhaps  brought 
them  from  the  Antilles,  which  finds  its  meaning  in  the 
ancient  tongue  of  Haiti,  and  which,  under  the  forms 
of  hurricane,  ouragan,  orkan,  was  adopted  into  European 
marine  languages  as  the  native  name  of  the  terrible 
tornado  of  the  Carribean  Sea.a 

Mixcohuatl,  the  Cloud  Serpent,  chief  divinity  of 
several  tribes  in  ancient  Mexico,  is  to  this  day  the  cor- 
rect term  in  their  language  for  the  tropical  whirlwind, 

1  These  terms  are  found  in  Gallatin's  vocabularies.  The  last 
mentioned  is  not,  as  Adair  thought,  derived  from  issto  ulla  or 
ishto  hoollo,  great  man,  for  in  Choctaw  the  adjective  cannot  precede 
the  noun  it  qualifies.  Its  true  sense  is  visible  in  the  analogous 
Creek  word  holvle,  the  storm  wind. 

*  Webster  derives  hurricane  from  the  Latin  furio.  But  Oviedo 
tells  us  in  his  description  of  Hispaniola  that  ' '  Hurakan,  in  lingua 
di  questa  isola  vuole  dire  propriamente  fortuna  tempestuosa  molto 
eccessiva,  perche  en  effetto  non  £  altro  que  un  grandissimo  vento  £ 
pioggia  insieme."  Historia  del  P Indie,  lib.  vi.  cap.  iii.  The  name 
Hurakan  in  the  Quiche  myths  is  translated  "One-leg"  by  Father 
Ximenes,  which  seems  to  have  no  meaning.  The  Dictionarium 
Galibi,  Paris,  1763,  gives  the  forms  iroucan  and  hyorocan.  The 
presence  of  the  same  word  with  the  same  meaning  over  such  an  ex- 
tent of  territory  occupied  by  different  stocks  is  puzzling.  The 
Carib  form  appears  to  be  from  ye'lo,  thunder,  lightning,  whence 
Island- Carib,  ioilallou  (von  den  Steinen,  Die Bakairi  Sprache,  p.  30). 


THE  GREAT  SPIRIT.  69 

and  the  natives  of  Panama  worshipped  the  same 
phenomenon  under  the  name  Tuyra.1  To  kiss  the  air 
was  in  Peru  the  commonest  and  simplest  sign  of  ador- 
ation to  the  collective  divinities.2 

Many  writers  on  mythology  have  commented  on  the 
prominence  so  frequently  given  to  the  winds.  None 
has  traced  it  to  its  true  source.  The  facts  of  meteor- 
ology have  been  thought  all  sufficient  for  a  solution. 
As  if  man  ever  did  or  ever  could  draw  the  idea  of  God 
from  nature  !  In  the  identity  of  wind  with  breath,  of 
breath  with  life,  of  life  with  soul,  of  soul  with  God, 
lies  the  far  deeper  and  far  truer  reason,  whose  insensi- 
ble development  I  have  here  traced,  in  outline,  indeed, 
but  confirmed  by  the  evidence  of  language  itself. 

Let  none  of  these  expressions,  however,  be  construed 
to  prove  the  distinct  recognition  of  one  Supreme  Being. 
Of  monotheism  either  as  displayed  in  the  one  personal 
definite  God  of  the  Semitic  races,  or  in  the  pantheistic 
sense  of  the  Brahmins,  there  was  not  a  single  instance 
on  the  American  continent.  The  missionaries  found 
no  word  in  any  of  their  languages  fit  to  interpret  Deus, 
God. 

How  could  they  expect  it  ?  The  associations  we  at- 
tach to  that  name  are  the  accumulated  fruits  of  nigh 
two  thousand  years  of  Christianity.  The  phrases  Good 
Spirit,  Great  Spirit,  and  similar  ones,  have  occasioned 
endless  discrepancies  in  the  minds  of  travelers.  In 
most  instances  they  are  entirely  of  modern  origin, 
coined  at  the  suggestion  of  missionaries,  applied  to  the 
white  man's  God.  Very  rarely  do  they  bring  any  con- 
ception of  personality  to  the  native  mind,  very  rarely 

1  Oviedo,  Rel.  de  la  Prov.  de  Cueba,  p.  141,  ed.  Ternaux-Compans. 
1  Garcia,  Origen  de  los  Indies,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxii. 


•70  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

do  they  signify  any  object  of  worship,  perhaps  never 
did  in  the  olden  times. 

The  Jesuit  Relations  state  positively  that  there  was 
no  one  immaterial  god  recognized  by  the  Algonkin 
tribes,  and  that  the  title,  the  Great  Manito,  was  intro- 
duced first  by  themselves  in  its  personal  sense.1  The 
supreme  Iroquois  Deity  Neo  or  Hawaneu,  triumph- 
antly adduced  by  many  writers  to  show  the  monotheism 
underlying  the  native  creeds,  and  upon  whose  name 
Mr.  Schoolcraft  has  built  some  philological  reveries, 
turns  out  on  closer  scrutiny  to  be  the  result  of  Chris- 
tian instruction,  and  the  words  themselves  to  be  cor- 
ruptions of  the  French  Dieu  and  le  bon  Dieu  !* 

Innumerable  mysterious  forces  are  in  activity  around 
the  child  of  nature ;  he  feels  within  him  something 
that  tells  him  they  are  not  of  his  kind,  and  yet  not  al- 
together different  from  him  ;  he  sums  them  up  in  one 
word  drawn  from  sensuous  experience.  Does  he  wish 
to  express  still  more  forcibly  this  sentiment,  he  doubles 
the  word,  or  prefixes  an  adjective,  or  adds  an  affix,  as 
the  genius  of  his  language  may  dictate.  But  it  still 
remains  to  him  but  an  unapplied  abstraction,  a  mere 
category  of  thought,  a  frame  for  the  All.  It  is  never 
the  object  of  veneration  or  sacrifice,  no  myth  brings  it 
down  to  his  comprehension,  it  is  not  installed  in  his 
temples. 

1  See  the  Ed.  de  la  Nouv.  France  pour  P  An  1637,  p.  49. 

*  Mr.  Morgan,  in  his  excellent  work,  The  League  of  the  Iroquois, 
has  been  led  astray  by  an  ignorance  of  the  etymology  of  these 
terms.  For  School  craft's  views  see  his  Oneota,  p.  147.  The  mat- 
ter is  ably  discussed  in  the  Etudes  Philologiques  sur  Quelques  Lan- 
gues  Sauvages  deV 'Amerique,  p.  14  :  and  comp.  Shea,  Diet.  Francais- 
Onontague,  Preface.  Mr.  J.  N.  B.  Hewitt  offers  a  less  probable 
etymology,  "Great  Voice,"  referring  to  the  thunder.  Proc.  Am. 
Assoc.  Adv.  Science,  1895,  p.  250. 


UNCONSCIOUS  MONOTHEISM.  71 

Man  cannot  escape  the  belief  that  behind  all  form  is 
one  essence ;  but  the  moment  he  would  seize  and  de- 
fine it,  it  eludes  his  grasp,  and  by  a  sorcery  more  sadly 
ludicrous  than  that  which  blinded  Titania,  he  worships 
not  the  Infinite  he  thinks,  but  a  base  idol  of  his  own 
making.  As  in  the  Zend  Avesta  behind  the  eternal 
struggle  of  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman  looms  up  the  undis- 
turbed and  infinite  Zeruana  Akerana ;  as  in  the  pages 
of  the  Greek  poets  we  here  and  there  catch  glimpses  of 
a  Zeus  who  is  not  he  throned  on  Olympus,  nor  he 
who  takes  part  in  the  wrangles  of  the  gods,  but  stands 
far  off  and  alone,  one  yet  all,  "  who  was,  who  is,  who 
will  be ;"  so  the  belief  in  an  Unseen  Spirit,  who  asks 
neither  supplication  nor  sacrifice,  who,  as  the  natives 
of  Texas  told  Joutel ,  in  1684,  "  does  not  concern  him- 
self about  things  here  below,"1  who  has  no  name  to 
call  him  by,  and  is  never  a  figure  in  mythology,  was 
doubtless  occasionally  present  to  their  minds. 

It  was  present  not  more  but  far  less  distinctly  and 
often  not  at  all  in  the  more  savage  tribes,  and  no  as- 
sertion can  be  more  contrary  to  the  laws  of  religious 
progress  than  that  which  pretends  that  a  purer  and 
more  monotheistic  religion  exists  among  nations  de- 
void of  mythology.  There  are  only  two  instances  on 
the  American  continent  where  the  worship  of  an  im- 
material God  was  definitely  instituted,  and  these  as  the 
highest  conquests  of  American  natural  religions  de- 
serve especial  mention. 

They  occurred,  as  we  might  expect,  in  the  two  most 
civilized  nations,  the  Quichuas  of  Peru,  and  the  Na- 
huas  of  Tezcuco.  It  is  related  that  about  the  year 

1  "  Qui  ne  prend  aucun  soin  des  choses  icy  bas."  Jour.  Hist.  d'un 
Voyage  de  PAmerique,  p.  225  (Paris,  1713). 


72  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

1440,  at  a  grand  religious  council  held  at  the  conse- 
cration of  the  newly-built  temple  of  the  Sun  at  Cuzco, 
the  Inca  Yupanqui  rose  before  the  assembled  multi- 
tude, and  spoke  somewhat  as  follows : 

"  Many  say  that  the  Sun  is  the  Maker  of  all  things. 
But  he  who  makes  should  abide  by  what  he  has  made. 
Now  many  things  happen  when  the  Sun  is  absent ; 
therefore  he  cannot  be  the  universal  creator.  And  that 
he  is  alive  at  all  is  doubtful,  for  his  trips  do  not  tire 
him.  Were  he  a  living  thing,  he  would  grow  weary 
like  ourselves ;  were  he  free,  he  would  visit  other  parts 
of  the  heavens.  He  is  like  a  tethered  beast  who  makes 
a  daily  round  under  the  eye  of  a  master ;  he  is  like  an 
arrow,  which  must  go  whither  it  is  sent,  not  whither  it 
wishes.  I  tell  you  that  he,  our  Father  and  Master  the 
Sun,  must  have  a  lord  and  master  more  powerful  than 
himself,  who  constrains  him  to  his  daily  circuit  without 
pause  or  rest."1 

To  express  this  greatest  of  all  existences,  a  name  was 
proclaimed,  based  upon  that  of  the  highest  divinities 
known  to  the  ancient  Inca  race,  Illatici  Viracocha  Pa- 
chacamac,  literally,  "  the  thunder  vase,  the  foam  of  the 
sea,  animating  the  world," — mysterious  and  symbolic 
names  drawn  from  the  deepest  religious  instincts  of  the 
soul,  whose  hidden  meanings  will  be  unravelled  here- 
after. A  temple  was  constructed  in  a  vale  by  the  sea 
near  Callao,  wherein  his  worship  was  to  be  conducted 

1  In  attributing  this  speech  to  the  Inca  Yupanqui,  I  have  fol- 
lowed Balboa,  who  expressly  says  this  was  the  general  opinion  of 
the  Indians  (Hist,  du  Perou,  p.  62,  ed.  Ternaux-Compans).  Others 
assign  it  to  other  Incas.  See  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  Hist,  deslncas, 
lib.  viii.,  chap.  8,  and  Acosta,  Nat.  and  Morall  Hist,  of  the  New 
World,  chap.  5.  The  fact  and  the  approximate  time  are  beyond 
question. 


NATIVE  MONOTHEISTS.  73 

without  images  or  human  sacrifices.  The  Inca  was 
ahead  of  his  age,  however,  and  when  the  Spaniards 
visited  the  temple  of  Pachacamac  in  1525,  they  found 
not  only  the  walls  adorned  with  hideous  paintings,  but 
an  ugly  idol  of  wood  representing  a  man  of  colossal 
proportions  set  up  therein,  and  receiving  the  prayers 
of  the  votaries.1 

No  better  success  attended  the  attempt  of  Neza- 
huatl,  lord  of  Tezcuco,  which  took  place  about  the 
same  time.  He  had  long  prayed  to  the  gods  of  his 
forefathers  for  a  son  to  inherit  his  kingdom,  and  the 
altars  had  smoked  vainly  with  the  blood  of  slaughtered 
victims.  At  length,  in  indignation  and  despair,  the 
prince  exclaimed,  "  Verily,  these  gods  that  I  am  ador- 
ing, what  are  they  but  idols  of  stone  without  speech  or 
feeling  ?  They  could  not  have  made  the  beauty  of  the 
heaven,  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars  which  adorn 
it,  and  which  light  the  earth,  with  its  countless  streams, 
its  fountains  and  waters,  its  trees  and  plants,  and  its 
various  inhabitants.  There  must  be  some  god,  invisible 
and  unknown,  who  is  the  universal  creator.  He  alone 
can  console  me  in  my  affliction  and  take  away  my  sor- 
row." 

Strengthened  in  this  conviction  by  a  timely  fulfil- 
ment of  his  heart's  desire,  he  erected  a  temple  nine 
stories  high  to  represent  the  nine  heavens,  which  he 
dedicated  "  to  the  Unknown  God,  the  Cause  of  Causes." 
This  temple,  he  ordained,  should  never  be  polluted  by 
blood,  nor  should  any  graven  image  ever  be  set  up 
within  its  precincts.2 

In  neither  case,  be  it  observed,  was  any  attempt  made 

1  Xeres,  Bel.  de  la  Conq.  duPerou,  p.  151,  ed.  Ternaux-Compans. 

2  Fresco tt,    Conq.  of  Mexico,  i.  pp.  192,  193,  on  the  authority  of 
Ixtlilxochitl. 


74  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

to  substitute  another  and  purer  religion  for  the  popular 
one.  The  Inca  continued  to  receive  the  homage  of  his 
subjects  as  a  brother  of  the  sun,  and  the  regular  ser- 
vices to  that  luminary  were  never  interrupted.  Nor 
did  the  prince  of  Tezcuco  afterwards  neglect  the  honors 
due  his  national  gods,  nor  even  refrain  himself  from 
plunging  the  knife  into  the  breasts  of  captives  on  the 
altar  of  the  god  of  war.1  They  were  but  expressions 
of  that  monotheism  which  is  ever  present,  "  not  in  con- 
trast to  polytheism,  but  in  living  intuition  in  the  relig- 
ious sentiments." 

If  this  subtle  but  true  distinction  be  rightly  under- 
stood, it  will  excite  no  surprise  to  find  such  epithets  as 
"endless,"  ''omnipotent,"  "invisible,"  "adorable," 
such  appellations  as  "  the  Maker  and  Moulder  of  All," 
"  the  Mother  and  Father  of  Life,"  "  the  One  God  com- 
plete in  perfection  and  unity,"  "  the  Creator  of  all  that 
is,"  "the  Soul  of  the  World,"  in  use  and  of  undoubted 
indigenous  origin  not  only  among  the  civilized  Aztecs, 
but  even  among  the  Haitians,  the  Araucanians,  the 
Lenni  Lenape,  and  others.8  It  will  not  seem  contra- 

1  Brasseur,  Hist,  du  Mexique,  iii.   p.  297,  note. 

8  Of  very  many  authorities  that  I  have  at  hand,  I  shall  only 
mention  Heckewelder,  Ace.  of  the  Inds.,  p.  422,  Duponceau,  Mem. 
sur  les  Langues  de  V  Amer.  du  Nord,  p.  310,  Peter  Martyr  De  Rebus 
Oceanicis,  Dec.  i.,  cap.  9,  Molina,  Hist  of  Chili,  ii.  p.  75,  Ximenes, 
Origen  de  los  Indies  de  Guatemala,  pp.  4,  5,  Ixtlilxochitl,  Rel.  des 
Cong,  du  Mexique,  p.  2.  These  terms  bear  the  severest  scrutiny. 
The  Aztec  appellation  of  the  Supreme  Being  Tloque  nahuaque  is 
compounded  of  tloc,  together,  with,  and  nahuac,  at,  by,  with,  with 
possessive  forms  added,  giving  the  signification,  Lord  of  all  exist- 
ence and  coexistence  (alles  Mitseyns  und  alles  Beiseyns,  bei  wel- 
chem  das  Seyn  aller  Dinge  ist.  Buschmann,  Ueber  die  Aztekischen 
Ortsnamen,  p.  642).  These  terms  are  undoubtedly  of  native  origin. 
In  the  Quiche  legends  the  Supreme  Being  is  called  Bitol,  the  sub- 


GOOD  AND  BAD  SPIRITS.  75 

dictory  to  hear  of  them  in  a  purely  polytheistic  wor- 
ship ;  we  shall  be  far  from  regarding  them  as  familiar 
to  the  popular  mind,  and  we  shall  never  be  led  so  far 
astray  as  to  adduce  them  in  evidence  of  a  monotheism 
in  either  technical  sense  of  that  word. 

In  point  of  fact  they  were  not  applied  to  any  par- 
ticular god  even  in  the  most  enlightened  nations,  but 
were  terms  of  laudation  and  magniloquence  used  by 
the  priests  and  devotees  of  every  several  god  to  do 
him  honor.  They  prove  something  in  regard  to  a  con- 
sciousness of  divinity  hedging  us  about,  but  nothing 
at  all  in  favor  of  a  recognition  of  one  God ;  they  exem- 
plify how  profound  is  the  conviction  of  a  highest  and 
first  principle,  but  they  do  not  offer  the  least  reason 
to  surmise  that  this  was  a  living  reality  in  doctrine  or 
practice. 

The  confusion  of  these  distinct  ideas  has  led  to  much 
misconception  of  the  native  creeds.  But  another  and 
more  fatal  error  was  that  which  distorted  them  into  a 
dualistic  form,  ranging  on  one  hand  the  good  spirit 
with  his  legions  of  angels,  on  the  other  the  evil  one 
with  his  swarms  of  fiends,  representing  the  world  as 
the  scene  of  their  unending  conflict,  man  as  the  un- 
lucky football  who  gets  all  the  blows. 

This  notion,  which  has  its  historical  origin  among 
the  Parsees  of  ancient  Iran,  is  unknown  to  savage  na- 

stantive  form  of  bit,  to  make,  to  form,  and  Tzakol,  substantive 
form  of  teak,  to  build,  the  Creator,  the  Constructor.  The  Ara- 
wacks,  of  Guyana,  applied  the  term  Alvheri  to  their  highest  con- 
ception of  a  first  cause,  from  the  verbal  form  cdin,  he  who  makes 
(Martius,  Ethnographic  und  Sprachenkunde  Amerikas,  i.  p.  696). 
The  Minnetarees  interpret  the  name  of  their  deity  Itsikamahidis 
as  "He  who  first  made"  (W.  Matthews,  Grammar  of  the  Hidatsa, 
p.  xxi.). 


T6  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

tions.  "The  Hidatsa,"  says  Dr.  Matthews,  "believe 
neither  in  a  hell  nor  a  devil."1  "The  idea  of  the 
Devil,"  justly  observes  Jacob  Grimm,  "is  foreign  to 
all  primitive  religions."  Yet  Professor  Mueller,  in  his 
voluminous  work  on  those  of  America,  after  approv- 
ingly quoting  this  saying,  complacently  proceeds  to 
classify  the  deities  as  good  or  bad  spirits  !2 

This  view,  which  has  obtained  without  question  in 
earlier  works  on  the  native  religions  of  America,  has 
arisen  partly  from  habits  of  thought  difficult  to  break, 
partly  from  mistranslations  of  native  words,  partly 
from  the  foolish  axiom  of  the  early  missionaries,  "  The 
gods  of  the  gentiles  are  devils."  Yet  their  own  writ- 
ings furnish  conclusive  proof  that  no  such  distinction 
existed  out  of  their  own  fancies.  The  same  word 
(otkori)  which  Father  Bruyas  employs  to  translate  into 
Iroquois  the  term  "  devil,"  in  the  passage  "  the  Devil 
took  upon  himself  the  figure  of  a  serpent,"  he  is  obliged 
to  use  for  "  spirit "  in  the  phrase,  "  at  the  resurrection 
we  shall  be  spirits,"8  which  is  a  rather  amusing  illus- 
tration how  impossible  it  was  by  any  native  word  to 
convey  the  idea  of  the  spirit  of  evil. 

When,  in  1570,  Father  Rogel  commenced  his  labors 
among  the  tribes  near  the  Savannah  River,  he  told 
them  that  the  deity  they  adored  was  a  demon  who 
loved  all  evil  things,  and  they  must  hate  him ;  where- 
upon his  auditors  replied,  that  so  far  from  this  being 
the  case,  whom  he  called  a  wicked  being  was  the  power 

i  Grammar  of  the  Hidatsa,  p.  xxii.  "The  idea  that  the  Creeks 
knew  anything  of  a  devil/''  remarks  Mr.  Gatschet,  "is  an  inven- 
tion of  the  missionaries."  Migration  Legend  of  the  Creeks,  vol.  L 
p.  216. 

J  Qeschichte  der  Amerikanischen  Urreligionen,  p.  403. 

3  Bruyas,  Had.  Verb.  Iroquceorum,  p.  38. 


THE  EVIL  SPIRIT.  77 

that  sent  them  all  good  things,  and  indignantly  left  the 
missionary  to  preach  to  the  winds.1 

A  passage  often  quoted  in  support  of  this  mistaken 
view  is  one  in  Winslow's  "  Good  News  from  New  Eng- 
land," written  in  1622.  The  author  says  that  the  In- 
dians worship  a  good  power  called  Kiehtan,  and 
another  "  who,  as  farre  as  wee  can  conceive,  is  the 
Devill,"  named  Hobbamock,  or  Hobbamoqui.  The 
former  of  these  names  is  merely  the  word  "great,"  in 
their  dialect  of  Algonkin,  with  a  final  n,  and  is  proba- 
bly an  abbreviation  of  Kittanitowit,  the  great  manito, 
a  vague  term  mentioned  by  Roger  Williams  and  other 
early  writers,  manufactured  probably  by  them  and  not 
the  appellation  of  any  personified  deity.2  The  latter, 
so  far  from  corresponding  to  the  power  of  evil,  was,  ac- 
cording to  Winslow's  own  statement,  the  kindly  god 
who  cured  diseases,  aided  them  in  the  chase,  and  ap- 
peared to  them  in  dreams  as  their  protector.  There- 
fore, with  great  justice,  Dr.  Jarvis  has  explained  it  to 
mean  "  the  oke  or  tutelary  deity  which  each  Indian  wor- 
ships," as  the  word  itself  signifies.8 

So  in  many  instances  it  turns  out  that  what  has  been 
reported  to  be  the  evil  divinity  of  a  nation,  to  whom 
they  pray  to  the  neglect  of  a  better  one,  is  in  reality  the 
highest  power  they  recognize.  Thus  Juripari,  wor- 
shipped by  certain  tribes  of  Brazil,  and  said  to  be  their 
wicked  spirit,  is  in  fact  the  name  in  their  language  for 

1  Alcazar,  Chrono-historia  de  la  Prov.  de  Toledo,  Dec.  iii.,  Afio 
viii.,  cap.  iv.  ( Madrid,  1710).  This  rare  work  contains  the  only 
faithful  copies  of  Father  Eogel's  letters  extant. 

1  It  is  analyzed  by  Duponceau,  Langues  de  PAmerique  du  Nord, 
p.  309. 

3  Discourse  on  the  Religion  of  the  Ind.  Tribes  of  N.  Am.,  p.  252  in 
the  Trans.  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc. 


78  TEE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

supernatural  in  general  j1  and  Aka-kanet,  sometimes 
mentioned  as  the  father  of  evil  in  the  mythology  of 
the  Araucanians,  is  the  benign  power  appealed  to  by 
their  priests,  who  is  throned  in  the  Pleiades,  who  sends 
fruits  and  flowers  to  the  earth,  and  is  addressed  as 
"grandfather."2  The  Qupay  of  the  Peruvians  never 
was,  as  Prescott  would  have  us  believe,  "  the  shadowy 
embodiment  of  evil,"  but  simply  and  solely  their  god 
of  the  dead,  the  Pluto  of  their  pantheon,  corresponding 
to  the  Mictla  of  the  Mexicans. 

The  evidence  on  the  point  is  indeed  conclusive.  The 
Jesuit  missionaries  very  rarely  distinguish  between 
good  and  evil  deities  when  speaking  of  the  religion  of 
the  northern  tribes ;  and  the  Moravian  Brethren  among 
the  Algonkins  and  Iroquois  place  on  record  their  unani- 
mous testimony  that  "  the  idea  of  a  devil,  a  prince  of 
darkness,  they  first  received  in  later  times  through  the 
Europeans."3  So  the  Cherokees,  remarks  an  intelligent 
observer,  "  know  nothing  of  the  Evil  One  and  his  do- 
mains, except  what  they  have  learned  from  white 
men."4 

The  term  Great  Spirit  conveys,  for  instance,  to  the 

1  The  radical  maj  be  the  Tupi-Guarani  jara,  master.  From 
him  came  both  pleasant  and  unpleasant  events.  D'Evreux,  His- 
toire  du  Marignan,  p.  405. 

8  Mueller,   Amer.   Urrdigionen,  pp.  265,  272,  274.    Well  may  he 
remark  :  "  The  dualism  is  not  very  striking  among  these  tribes  ;" 
as  a  few  pages  previous  he  says  of  the  Caribs,  ''  The  dualism  of 
gods  is  anything  but  rigidly  observed.     The  good  gods  do  more 
evil  than  good.     Fear  is  the  ruling  religious  sentiment."    To  such 
a  lame  conclusion  do  these  venerable  preposessions  lead.     ' '  Grau 
ist  alle  Theorie." 

9  Loskiel,  Ges.  der  Miss,  der  evang.  Brueder,  p.  46. 

*  Whipple,  Report  on  the  Ind.  Tribes,  p.  35  (Washington,  1855). 
Pacific  Railroad  Docs. 


GOOD  AND  BAD  GODS.  79 

Chipeway  just  as  much  the  idea  of  a  bad  as  of  a  good 
spirit ;  he  is  unaware  of  any  distinction  until  it  is  ex- 
plained to  him.1  "  I  have  never  been  able  to  discover 
from  the  Dakotas  themselves,"  remarks  the  Rev.  G.  H. 
Pond,  who  had  lived  among  them  as  a  missionary  for 
eighteen  years,1  "  the  least  degree  of  evidence  that  they 
divide  the  gods  into  classes  of  good  and  evil,  and  am 
persuaded  that  those  persons  who  represent  them  as 
doing  so,  do  it  inconsiderately,  and  because  it  is  so 
natural  to  subscribe  to  a  long-cherished  popular  opin- 
ion." 

Very  soon  after  coming  in  contact  with  the  whites, 
the  Indians  caught  the  notion  of  a  bad  and  good  spirit, 
pitted  one  against  the  other  in  eternal  warfare,  and  en- 
grafted it  on  their  ancient  traditions.  Writers  anxious 
to  discover  Jewish  or  Christian  analogies,  forcibly  con- 
strued myths  to  suit  their  pet  theories,  and  for  indolent 
observers  it  was  convenient  to  catalogue  their  gods  in 
antithetical  classes.  In  Mexican  and  Peruvian  mythol- 
ogy this  is  so  plainly  false  that  historians  no  longer  in- 
sist upon  it,  but  as  a  popular  error  it  still  holds  its 
ground  with  reference  to  the  more  barbarous  and  less 
known  tribes. 

Perhaps  no  myth  has  been  so  often  quoted  in  its 
confirmation  as  that  of  the  ancient  Iroquois,  which 
narrates  the  conflict  between  the  first  two  brothers  of 
our  race.  It  is  of  undoubted  native  origin  and  vener- 
able antiquity.  The  version  given  by  the  Tuscarora 
chief  Cusic  in  1825,  relates  that  in  the  beginning  of 
things  there  were  two  brothers,  Enigorio  and  Enigo- 
hahetgea,  names  literally  meaning  the  Good  Mind  and 

1  Schoolcraft,  Indian  Tribes,  i.  p.  359. 
»  In  Schoolcraft,  Ibid.,  iv.  p.  642. 


80  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

the  Bad  Mind.1  The  former  went  about  the  world  fur- 
nishing it  with  gentle  streams,  fertile  plains  and  plen- 
teous fruits,  while  the  latter  maliciously  followed  him, 
creating  rapids,  thorns,  and  deserts.  At  length  the 
Good  Mind  turned  upon  his  brother  in  anger,  and 
crushed  him  into  the  earth.  He  sank  out  of  sight  in 
its  depths,  but  not  to  perish,  for  in  the  dark  realms  of 
the  underworld  he  still  lives,  receiving  the  souls  of  the 
dead  and  being  the  author  of  all  evil. 

Now  when  we  compare  this  with  the  version  of  the 
same  legend  given  by  Father  Brebeuf,  missionary  to 
the  Hurons  in  1636,  we  find  its  whole  complexion 
altered ;  the  moral  dualism  vanishes ;  the  names  Good 
Mind  and  Bad  Mind  do  not  appear ;  it  is  the  struggle 
of  loskeha,  the  White  one,  with  his  brother  Tawiscara, 
the  Dark  one,  and  we  at  once  perceive  that  Christian 
influence  in  the  course  of  two  centuries  had  given  the 
tale  a  meaning  foreign  to  its  original  intent. 

So  it  is  with  the  story  the  Algonkins  tell  of  their 
hero  Manibozho,  who,  in  the  opinion  of  a  well-known 
writer,  "  is  always  placed  in  antagonism  to  a  great  ser- 
pent, a  spirit  of  evil."2  It  is  to  the  effect  that  after 
conquering  many  animals,  this  famous  magician  tried 
his  arts  on  the  prince  of  serpents.  After  a  prolonged 
struggle,  which  brought  on  the  general  deluge  and  the 
destruction  of  the  world,  he  won  the  victory. 

The  first  authority  we  have  for  this  narrative  is  even 
later  than  Cusic ;  it  is  Mr.  Schoolcraft  in  our  own  day ; 
the  legendary  cause  of  the  deluge  as  related  by  Father 

1  Or  more  exactly,  the  Beautiful  Spirit,  the  Ugly  Spirit.  In 
Onondaga  the  radicals  are  onigonra  spirit,  hio  beautiful,  ahetken 
ugly.  Dictionnaire  Fran$ais-0nontagu£,  edite.  par  Jean-Marie  Shea 
(New  York,  1859). 

8  Squier,  The  Serpent  Symbol  in  America. 


QUICHE  MYTHS.  81 

Le  Jeune,  in  1634,  is  quite  dissimilar,  and  makes  no 
mention  of  a  serpent ;  and,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see, 
neither  among  the  Algonkins  nor  any  other  Indians, 
was  the  serpent  usually  a  type  of  evil,  but  quite  the 
reverse.1 

The  comparatively  late  introduction  of  such  views 
into  the  native  legends  finds  a  remarkable  proof  in  the 
myths  of  the  Quiches,  which  were  committed  to  writing 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  They  narrate  the  struggles 
between  the  rulers  of  the  upper  and  the  nether  world, 
the  descent  of  the  former  into  Xibalba,  the  Realm  of 
Phantoms,  and  their  victory  over  its  lords,  One  Death 
and  Seven  Deaths.  The  writer  adds  of  the  latter,  who 
clearly  represent  to  his  mind  the  Evil  One  and  his 
adjutants,  "  in  the  old  times  they  did  not  have  much 
power ;  they  were  but  annoyers  and  opposers  of  men, 
and,  in  truth,  they  were  not  regarded  as  gods.  But 
when  they  appeared  it  was  terrible.  They  were  of  evil, 
they  were  owls,  fomenting  trouble  and  discord." 

In  this  passage,  which,  be  it  said,  seems  to  have  im- 
pressed the  translators  very  differently,  the  writer 
appears  to  compare  the  great  power  assigned  by  the 
Christian  religion  to  Satan  and  his  allies,  with  the 
very  much  less  potency  attributed  to  their  analogues 
in  heathendom,  the  rulers  of  the  world  of  the  dead.* 

A  little  reflection  will  convince  the  most  incredulous 
that  any  such  dualism  as  has  been  fancied  to  exist  in 
the  native  religions,  could  not  have  been  of  indigenous 

1  Both  these  legends  will  be  analyzed  in  a  subsequent  chapter, 
and  an  attempt  made  not  only  to  restore  them  their  primitive 
form,  but  to  explain  their  meaning. 

2  Compare  the  translation  and  remarks  of  Ximenes,  Or.  de  los 
Indios  de  Guat.,  p.  76,  with  those  of  Brasseur,   Le  Livre  Sacre  des 
Quiches,  p.  189. 

6 


82  THE  IDEA  OF  GOD. 

growth.  The  gods  of  the  primitive  man  are  beings  of 
thoroughly  human  physiognomy,  painted  with  colors 
furnished  by  intercourse  with  his  fellows.  These  are 
his  enemies  or  his  friends,  as  he  conciliates  or  insults 
them.  No  mere  man,  least  of  all  a  savage,  is  kind  and 
benevolent  in  spite  of  neglect  and  injury,  nor  is  any 
man  causelessly  and  ceaselessly  malicious.  Personal, 
family,  or  national  feuds  render  some  more  inimical 
than  others,  but  always  from  a  desire  to  guard  their 
own  interests,  jiever  out  of  a  delight  in  evil  for  its 
own  sake. 

Thus  the  cruel  gods  of  death,  disease,  and  danger, 
were  never  of  Satanic  nature,  while  the  kindliest  divin- 
ities were  disposed  to  punish,  and  that  severely,  any 
neglect  of  their  ceremonies. 

Moral  dualism  can  only  arise  where  the  ideas  of  good 
and  evil  are  not  synonymous  with  those  of  pleasure 
and  pain,  for  the  conception  of  a  wholly  good  or  a 
wholly  evil  nature  requires  the  use  of  these  terms  in 
their  higher  ethical  sense.  The  various  deities  of  the 
Indians,  it  may  safely  be  said  in  conclusion,  present  no 
stronger  antithesis  in  this  respect  than  those  of  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome.  Some  gods  favored  man  and  others 
hurt  him ;  some,  like  the  forces  they  embodied,  were 
beneficent  to  him,  others  injurious.  But  no  ethical 
contrast,  beyond  what  this  would  imply,  existed  to  the 
native  mind. 


SACRED  NUMBERS.  83 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   SACRED   NUMBER,   ITS   ORIGIN   AND   APPLICATIONS. 

The  number  FOUR  sacred  in  all  American  religions,  and  the  key  to 
their  symbolism. — Derived  from  the  CARDINAL  POINTS.— Ap- 
pears constantly  in  government,  arts,  rites,  and  myths. — The 
Cardinal  points  identified  with  the  Four  Winds,  who  in  myths 
are  the  four  ancestors  of  the  human  race,  and  the  four  celestial 
rivers  watering  the  terrestrial  Paradise. — Associations  grouped 
around  each  Cardinal  Point. — From  the  number  four  was  derived 
the  symbolic  value  of  the  number  Forty,  of  the  Sign  of  the  Cross, 
the  Sacred  Tree,  the  ceremonial  circuit  and  other  symbols. 

EVERY  one  familiar  with  the  ancient  religions  of 
the  world  must  have  noticed  the  mystic  power 
they  attach  to  certain  numbers,  and  how  these  num- 
bers became  the  measures  and  formative  quantities, 
as  it  were,  of  traditions  and  ceremonies,  and  had  a 
symbolical  meaning  nowise  connected  with  their  arith- 
metical value.  For  instance,  in  many  eastern  religions, 
that  of  the  Jews  among  the  rest,  seven  was  the  most 
sacred  number,  and  after  it,  four  and  three.  The  most 
cursory  reader  must  have  observed  in  how  many  con- 
nections the  seven  is  used  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
occurring,  in  all,  something  over  three  hundred  and 
sixty  times,  it  is  said. 

Why  these  numbers  were  chosen  rather  than  others 
has  not  been  clearly  explained.  Their  sacred  character 
dates  beyond  the  earliest  history,  and  must  have  been 
coeval  with  the  first  expressions  of  the  religious  senti- 


84  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

ment.  Their  sacredness  is  so  wide-spread,  so  nigh 
universal  in  all  times  and  places,  that  any  explanation, 
to  be  valid,  must  rest  on  some  equally  universal  rela- 
tions either  of  man  or  of  mind.  I  believe  that  such  can 
be  shown ;  for  the  three,  in  the  necessary  processes  of 
thought,  in  the  syllogism,  which  proceeds  by  three 
mental  operations;  and  for  the/owr  in  certain  obliga- 
tory relations  of  the  individual  to  his  environment, 
as  I  shall  mention  later.  Through  this  explanation 
we  perceive  why  the  idea  of  the  Trinity  is  so  natu- 
ral to  the  mind,  and  of  such  frequent  recurrence  in 
religions.1 

Only  one  of  them,  the  FOUR,  has  noteworthy  promi- 
nence in  the  myths  of  the  red  race,  but  this  is  so 
marked  and  so  universal,  that  at  a  very  early  period 
in  my  studies  I  felt  convinced  that  if  the  reason  for  its 
adoption  could  be  discovered,  much  of  the  apparent 
confusion  which  reigns  in  these  myths  would  be  dis- 
pelled. 

Such  a  reason  must  take  its  rise  from  some  essential 
relation  of  man  to  nature,  everywhere  prominent, 
everywhere  the  same.  It  is  found  in  the  adoration  of 
the  cardinal  points. 

The  red  man,  as  I  have  said,  was  a  hunter ;  he  was 
ever  wandering  through  pathless  forests,  coursing  over 
boundless  prairies.  It  seems  to  the  white  race  not  a 
faculty,  but  an  instinct  that  guides  him  so  unerringly. 
He  is  never  at  a  loss.  Says  a  writer  who  has  deeply 
studied  his  character :  "  The  Indian  ever  has  the  points 
of  the  compass  present  to  his  mind,  and  expresses  him- 

1  I  have  expanded  this  theory  in  an  article  "On  the  Origin  of 
Sacred  Numbers,"  in  the  American  Anthropologist,  for  April,  1894; 
and  comp.  "Zahlen-Symbolik,"  in  ZeiL  fur  Volker-psychologie, 
Bd.  xiv. 


THE  CARDINAL  POINTS.  85 

self  accordingly  in  words,  although  it  shall  be  of  mat- 
ters in  his  own  house.' n 

The  assumption  of  precisely  four  cardinal  points  is 
not  of  chance ;  it  is  recognized  in  every  language ;  it  is 
rendered  essential  by  the  anatomical  structure  of  the 
body ;  it  is  derived  from  the  immutable  laws  of  the 
universe.  Whether  we  gaze  at  the  sunset  or  the  sunrise, 
or  whether  at  night  we  look  for  guidance  to  the  only  star 
of  the  twinkling  thousands  that  is  constant  to  its  place, 
the  anterior  and  posterior  planes  of  our  bodies,  our 
right  hands  and  our  left,  coincide  with  the  parallels  and 
meridians. 

Very  early  in  his  history  did  man  take  note  of  these 
four  points,  and  recognizing  in  them  his  guides  through 
the  night  and  the  wilderness,  call  them  his  gods.  Long 
afterwards,  when  centuries  of  slow  progress  had  taught 
him  other  secrets  of  nature— when  he  had  discerned  in 
the  motions  of  the  sun,  the  elements  of  matter,  and  the 
radicals  of  arithmetic  a  repetition  of  this  number — 
they  were  to  him  further  warrants  of  its  sacredness. 
He  adopted  it  as  a  regulating  quantity  in  his  institutions 
and  his  arts ;  he  repeated  it  in  its  multiples  and  com- 
pounds ;  he  imagined  for  it  novel  applications ;  he  con- 
stantly magnified  its  mystic  meaning ;  and  finally,  in  his 
philosophical  reveries,  he  called  it  the  key  to  the  secrets 
of  the  universe,  "  the  source  of  ever-flowing  nature."2 

1  Buckingham  Smith,  Gram.  Notices  of  the  Heve  Language,  p.  26 
(Shea's  Lib.  Am.  Linguistics).      Since  I  called  attention  to  this 
in  the  first  edition  (1868)  'of  this  work,  many  writers  have  added 
facts  in  evidence  of  it  from  scores  of  American  tribes.     It  should 
be  noticed  that  in  some  instances  the  ceremonial  north  and  south 
points  are  not  those  astronomically  correct.     (J.  W.  Fewkes,  in 
Jour.  Am.  Folk-lore,  1892.)   The  same  was  true  in  ancient  Babylon. 

2  I  refer  to  the  four  "ultimate  elementary  particles"  of  Empe- 


86  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

In  primitive  geography  the  figure  of  the  earth  is  a 
square  plain ;  in  the  legend  of  the  Quiches  it  is  "  shaped 
as  a  square,  divided  into  four  parts,  marked  with  lines, 
measured  with  cords,  and  suspended  from  the  heavens 
by  a  cord  to  its  four  corners  and  its  four  sides."1  The 
earliest  divisions  of  territory  were  in  conformity  to  this 
view.  Thus  it  was  with  ancient  Egypt,  Syria,  Mesopo- 
tamia, India  and  China  ;2  and  in  the  new  world,  the 
states  of  Peru,  Araucania,  the  Muyscas,  the  Quiches, 
Tlascala  and  Michoacan  were  tetrarchies  divided  in 
accordance  with,  and  in  the  first  two  instances  named 
after,  the  cardinal  points.  So  their  chief  cities — Cuzco, 
Quito,  Tezcuco,  Tenochtitlan,  Cholula — were  quartered 
by  streets  running  north,  south,  east,  and  west. 

It  was  a  necessary  result  of  such  a  division  that  the 
chief  officers  of  the  government  were  four  in  number, 
that  the  inhabitants  of  town  and  country,  that  the 
whole  social  organization  acquired  a  quadruplicate 
form.  The  official  title  of  the  Incas  was  "  Lord  of  the 
four  quarters  of  the  earth,"  and  the  venerable  formality 
in  taking  possession  of  land,  both  in  their  domain  and 
that  of  the  Aztecs,  was  to  throw  a  stone,  to  shoot  an 
arrow,  or  to  hurl  a  firebrand  to  each  of  the  cardinal 

docles.  The  number  was  sacred  to  Hermes,  and  lay  at  the  root  of 
the  physical  philosophy  of  Pythagoras.  The  quotation  in  the  text  is 
from  the  '  'Golden Verses, ' '  given  in  Passow's  lexicon  under  the  word 

TCTpaKTVs  :  vai.  fia  rov  apertpq  i^vxarrapa&ovra  rerpaKrvv,  irayav  asvaov  Qvacus. 

"The  most  sacred  of  all  things,"  said  this  famous  teacher,  "is 
Number ;  and  next  to  it,  that  which  gives  Names  ; "  a  truth  that 
the  lapse  of  three  thousand  years  is  just  enabling  us  to  appre- 
ciate. 

1  Ximenes,  Or.  de  los  Indios,  etc.,  p. 5. 

1  See  Sepp,  Iieidenthum  und  dessen  Bedeutung  fur  das  Christen- 
thum,  i.  p.  464  saq.,  a  work  full  of  learning,  but  written  in  the 
wild  vein  of  Joseph  de  Maistre's  school  of  Romanizing  mythology. 


ORIENTATION.  87 

points.1  They  carried  out  the  idea  in  their  architec- 
ture, building  their  palaces  in  squares  with  doors  open- 
ing, their  tombs  with  their  angles  pointing,  their  great 
causeways  running  in  these  directions. 

These  architectural  principles  repeat  themselves  all 
over  the  continent;  they  recur  in  the  sacred  structures 
of  Yucatan,  in  the  ancient  cemetery  of  Teo-tihuacan 
near  Mexico,  where  the  tombs  are  arranged  along  ave- 
nues corresponding  exactly  to  the  parallels  and  merid- 
ians of  the  central  tumuli  of  the  sun  and  moon  ;2  and 
however  ignorant  we  are  about  the  mound-builders  of 
the  Mississippi  valley,  we  know  that  they  constructed 
their  earth-works  with  a  constant  regard  to  the  quar- 
ters of  the  compass. 

Nothing  can  be  more  natural  than  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  regions  of  the  heavens  in  the  construc- 
tion of  buildings ;  I  presume  that  at  any  time  no  one 
plans  an  edifice  of  pretensions  without  doing  so.  Yet 
this  is  one  of  those  apparently  trifling  transactions 
which  in  their  origin  and  applications  have  exerted  a 
controlling  influence  on  the  history  of  the  human  race.8 

When  we  reflect  how  indissolubly  the  mind  of  the 
primitive  man  is  welded  to  his  superstitions,  it  were 
incredible  that  his  social  life  and  his  architecture  could 

1  Brasseur,    Hist,  du  Mexique,   ii.    p.    227,    Le  Livre  Sacre  des 
Quiches,  introd.  p.  ccxlii.     The  four  provinces  of  Peru  were  Anti, 
Cunti,   Chincha,   and  Colla.     The  meaning  of  these  names  has 
been  lost,  but  to  repeat  them,  says  La  Vega,  was  the  same  as  to 
use  our  words,  east,  west,  north,  and  south  (Hist,  des  Incas,  lib. 
ii.  cap.  11). 

2  Humboldt,  Polit.  Essay  on  New  Spain,  ii.  p.  44. 

3  Prof.    Holmes  ( Arch.  Studies  among  the  Ancient  Cities  of  Mexico, 
p.  24, 1895)  observes  that  in  the  valley  of  Mexico  and  in  Oaxaca, 
the  orientation  of  buildings  was  attended  to  with  great  care ;  but 
less  strictly  in  Yucatan, 


88  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

thus  be  as  it  were  in  subjection  to  one  idea,  and  his 
rites  and  myths  escape  its  sway.  As  one  might  expect, 
it  reappears  in  these  latter  more  vividly  than  anywhere 
else.  If  there  is  one  formula  more  frequently  men- 
tioned by  travellers  than  another  as  an  indispensable 
preliminary  to  all  serious  business,  it  is  that  of  smok- 
ing, and  the  prescribed  and  traditional  rule  was  that 
the  first  puff  should  be  to  the  sky,  and  then  one  to  each 
of  the  corners  of  the  earth,  or  the  cardinal  points.1 

These  were  the  spirits  who  made  and  governed  the 
earth,  and  under  whatever  difference  of  guise  the  un- 
cultivated fancy  portrayed  them,  they  were  the  leading 
figures  in  the  tales  and  ceremonies  of  nearly  every 
tribe  of  the  red  race.  These  were  the  divine  powers 
summoned  by  the  Chipeway  magicians  when  initiating 
neophytes  into  the  mysteries  of  the  meda  craft.  They 
were  asked  to  a  lodge  of  four  poles,  to  four  stones  that 
lay  before  its  fire,  there  to  remain  four  days,  and  attend 
four  feasts.  At  every  step  of  the  proceeding  this  num- 
ber or  its  multiples  were  repeated.* 

With  their  neighbors  the  Dakotas  the  number  was 
also  distinctly  sacred ;  it  was  intimately  inwoven  in  all 
their  tales  concerning  the  wakan  power  and  the  spirits 
of  the  air,  and  their  religious  rites.  The  artist  Catlin 
has  given  a  vivid  description  of  the  great  annual  festi- 
val of  the  Mandans,  a  Dakota  tribe,  and  brings  for- 
ward with  emphasis  the  ceaseless  reiteration  of  this 
number  from  first  to  last.3  He  did  not  detect  its  origin 

1  This  custom  has  been  often  mentioned  among  the  Iroquois, 
Algonkins,  Dakotas,  Creeks,  Natchez,  Araucanians,  and  other 
tribes.  Nuttall  points  out  its  recurrence  among  the  Tartars  of 
Siberia  also.  (Travels,  p.  175.) 

8  Schoolcraft,  Indian  Tribes,  v.  pp.  424  et  seq. 

8  Letters  on  the  North  American  Indians,  voL  i.,  Letter  22. 


THE  HOLY  FOU&.  89 

in  the  veneration  of  the  cardinal  points,  but  the  in- 
formation that  has  since  been  furnished  of  the  myths 
of  this  stock  leaves  no  doubt  that  such  was  the  case.1 

Proximity  of  place  had  no  part  in  this  similarity  of 
rite.  In  the  grand  commemorative  festival  of  the 
Creeks  called  the  Busk,  which  wiped  out  the  memory 
of  all  crimes  but  murder,  which  reconciled  the  pro- 
scribed criminal  to  his  nation  and  atoned  for  his  guilt, 
when  the  new  fire  was  kindled  and  the  green  corn 
served  up,  every  dance,  every  invocation,  every  cere- 
mony, was  shaped  and  ruled  by  the  application  of  the 
number  four  and  its  multiples  in  every  imaginable  re- 
lation. So  it  was  at  that  solemn  probation  which  the 
youth  must  undergo  to  prove  himself  worthy  of  the 
dignities  of  manhood  and  to  ascertain  his  guardian 
spirit ;  here  again  his  fasts,  his  seclusions,  his  trials, 
were  all  laid  down  in  fourfold  arrangement.2 

Not  alone  among  these  barbarous  tribes  were  the 
cardinal  points  thus  the  foundation  of  the  most  solemn 
mysteries  of  religion.  An  excellent  authority  relates 
that  the  Aztecs  of  Micla,  in  Guatemala,  celebrated  their 
chief  festival  four  times  a  year,  and  that  four  priests 
solemnized  its  rites.  They  commenced  by  invoking 
and  offering  incense  to  the  sky  and  the  four  cardinal 

1  Schoolcraft,  Indian  Tribes,  iv.  p.  643  sq.  "  Four  is  their  sacred 
number,"  says  Mr.  Pond  (p.  646).  Their  neighbors,  the  Pawnees, 
though  not  the  most  remote  affinity  can  be  detected  between  their 
languages,  coincide  with  them  in  this  sacred  number,  and  dis- 
tinctly identified  it  with  the  cardinal  points.  See  De  Smet,  Oregon 
Missions,  pp.  360,  361. 

1  Benj.  Hawkins,  Sketch  of  the  Creek  Country,  pp.  75,  78 
(Savannah,  1848).  The  proper  term  is  puskita,  which  means  a 
fasting.  It  was  also  known  ip  the  English  (Bartram,  Adair, 
Milfort)  as  the  "green  corn  dance."  It  was  much  more  than  a 
"rejoicing  over  the  first  fruits,"  as  some  have  maintained. 


90  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

points ;  they  conducted  the  human  victim  four  times 
around  the  temple,  then  tore  out  his  heart,  and  catch- 
ing the  blood  in  four  vases  scattered  it  in  the  same 
directions.1 

So  also  the  Peruvians  had  four  principal  festivals 
annually,  and  at  every  new  moon  one  of  four  days' 
duration.  In  fact  the  repetition  of  the  number  in  all 
their  religious  ceremonies  is  so  prominent  that  it  has 
been  a  subject  of  comment  by  historians.  They  have 
attributed  it  to  the  knowledge  of  the  solstices  and 
equinoxes,  but  assuredly  it  is  of  more  ancient  date 
than  this. 

The  same  explanation  has  been  offered  for  its  recur- 
rence among  the  Nahuas  of  Mexico,  whose  whole  lives 
were  subjected  to  its  operation.  At  birth  the  mother 
was  held  unclean  for  four1  days,  a  fire  was  kindled  and 
kept  burning  for  a  like  length  of  time,  at  the  baptism 
of  the  child  an  arrow  was  shot  to  each  of  the  cardinal 
points.  Their  prayers  were  offered  four  times  a  day, 
their  greatest  festivals  were  every  fourth  year,  and  their 
offerings  of  blood  were  to  the  four  points  of  the  com- 
pass. At  death  food  was  placed  on  the  grave,  as  among 
the  Eskimos,  Creeks  and  Algonkins,  for  four  days  (for 
all  these  nations  and  many  others  supposed  that  the 
journey  to  the  land  of  souls  was  accomplished  in  that 
time),  and  mourning  for  the  dead  was  for  four  months 
or  four  years.8 

1  Palacios,    Des.  de  la    Prov.  de    Guatemala,    pp.    31,   32,    ed. 
Ternaux-Compans. 

2  All  familiar  with  Mexican  antiquity  will  recall  many  such 
examples.    I  may  particularly  refer  to  Kingsborough,  Antiqs.  of 
Mexico,  v.   p.  480,    Ternaux-Compans'    Recueil  de  pieces    rel.  a  la 
Conq.  du  Mexigue,  pp.  307,  310,  and  Gama,  Des.  de  las  dos  Piedras 
gue  se  hattaron  en  la  plaza  principal  de  Mexico,  ii.  sec.  126  (Mexico, 


THE  FOUR  SEASONS.  91 

It  were  fatiguing  and  unnecessary  to  extend  the  cata- 
logue much  further.  Yet  it  is  not  nearly  exhausted. 
From  tribes  of  both  continents  and  all  stages  of  culture, 
the  Muyscas  of  Columbia  and  the  Natchez  of  Louisi- 
ana, the  Quiches  of  Guatemala  and  the  Caribs  of  the 
Orinoco,  instance  after  instance  might  be  marshalled 
to  illustrate  how  universally  a  sacred  character  was 
attached  to  this  number,  and  how  uniformly  it  is  trace- 
able to  a  veneration  of  the  cardinal  points.  It  is  suf- 
ficient that  it  be  displayed  in  some  of  its  more  unusual 
applications. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  calendar  common  to  the 
Nahuas,  Zapotecs  and  Maya  divides  the  month  into 
four  weeks,  each  containing  a  like  number  of  secular 
days ;  that  their  indiction  is  divided  into  four  periods ; 
and  that  they  believed  the  world  had  passed  through 
four  cycles.  It  has  not  been  sufficiently  emphasized 
that  in  many  of  the  picture  writings  these  days  of  the 
week  are  placed  respectively  north,  south,  east,  and 
west,  and  that  in  the  Maya  language  the  quarters  of 
the  indiction  still  bear  the  names  of  the  cardinal  points, 
hinting  the  reason  of  their  adoption.1  This  cannot  be 
fortuitous. 

Again,  the  division  of  the  year  into  four  seasons — 
a  division  as  devoid  of  foundation  in  nature  as  that  of 
the  ancient  Aryans  into  three,  and  unknown  among 
many  tribes,  yet  obtained  in  very  early  times  among 
Algonkins,  Cherokees,  Choctaws,  Creeks,  Aztecs,  Muys- 

1832),  who  gives  numerous  instances  beyond  those  I  have  cited, 
and  directs  with  emphasis  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  this  con- 
stant repetition. 

1  Cyrus  Thomas,  Notes  on  Maya  and  Mexican  Manuscripts  ;  D.  G. 
Brinton,  The  Native  Calendar  of  Central  America  and  Mexico,  etc.; 
and  Codex  Vaticanus,  in  Kingsborough's-flfaaccwi  Antiquities. 


92  THE  SACEED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

cas,  Peruvians,  and  Araucanians.  They  were  supposed 
to  be  produced  by  the  unending  struggles  and  varying 
fortunes  of  the  four  aerial  giants  who  rule  the  winds. 

We  must  seek  in  mythology  the  key  to  the  monoto- 
nous repetition  and  the  sanctity  of  this  number ;  and, 
furthermore,  we  must  seek  it  in  those  natural  modes  of 
expression  of  the  religious  sentiment  which  are  above 
the  power  of  blood  or  circumstance  to  control.  One  of 
these  modes,  we  have  seen,  was  that  which  led  to  the 
identification  of  the  divinity  with  the  wind,  and  this  it 
is  that  solves  the  enigma  in  the  present  instance.  Uni- 
versally the  spirits  of  the  cardinal  points  were  imagined 
to  be  in  the  winds  that  blew  from  them.  The  names  of 
these  directions  and  of  the  corresponding  winds  are 
often  the  same,  and  when  not,  there  exists  an  intimate 
connection  between  them.  For  example,  take  the  lan- 
guages of  the  Mayas,  Huastecas,  and  Quiches  of  Central 
America  ;  in  all  of  them  the  word  for  north  is  synony- 
mous with  north  wind,  and  so  on  with  the  other  three 
points  of  the  compass.  Or,  again,  that  of  the  Dakotas, 
and  the  word  tate-ouye-toba,  translated  "  the  four  quar- 
ters of  the  heavens,"  means  literally,  "  whence  the  four 
winds  come."1 

It  were  not  difficult  to  extend  the  list ;  but  illustra- 
tions are  all  that  is  required.  Let  it  be  remembered 
how  closely  the  motions  of  the  air  are  associated,  in 
thought  and  language,  with  the  operations  of  the  soul 
and  the  idea  of  God ;  let  it  further  be  considered  what 
support  this  association  receives  from  the  power  of  the 
winds  on  the  weather,  bringing  as  they  do  the  light- 
ning and  the  storm,  the  zephyr  that  cools  the  brow,  and 
the  tornado  that  levels  the  forest ;  how  they  summon 

1  Biggs,  Gram,  and  Diet,  of  the  Dakota  Lang.,  s.  v. 


WOESHIP  OF  WINDS.  93 

the  rain  to  fertilize  the  seed  and  refresh  the  shrivelled 
leaves ;  how  they  aid  the  hunter  to  stalk  the  game,  and 
usher  in  the  varying  seasons ;  how,  indeed,  in  a  hun- 
dred ways,  they  intimately  concern  his  comfort  and  his 
life ;  and  it  will  not  seem  strange  that  they  almost  occu- 
pied the  place  of  all  other  gods  in  the  mind  of  the 
child  of  nature. 

Especially  as  those  who  gave  or  withheld  the  rains 
were  they  objects  of  his  anxious  solicitation.  "  Ye 
who  dwell  at  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  —  at  the 
north,  at  the  south,  at  the  east,  and  at  the  west,"  com- 
menced the  Aztec  prayer  to  the  Tlalocs,  gods  of  the 
showers.1  For  they,  as  it  were,  hold  the  food,  the  life 
of  man  in  their  power,  garnered  up  on  high,  to  grant 
or  deny,  as  they  see  fit.  It  was  from  them  that  the 
prophet  of  old  was  directed  to  call  back  the  spirits  of 
the  dead  to  the  dry  bones  of  the  valley.  "  Prophesy 
unto  the  wind,  prophesy,  son  of  man,  and  say  to  the 
wind,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  come  forth  from  the 
four  winds,  0  breath,  and  breathe  upon  these  slain,  that 
they  may  live."  (Ezek.  xxxvii.  9.) 

In  the  same  spirit  the  priests  of  the  Eskimos  prayed 
to  Sillam  Innua,  the  Owner  of  the  Winds,  as  the  highest 
existence;  the  abode  of  the  dead  they  called  Sillam 
Aipane,  the  House  of  the  Winds  ;  and  in  their  incan- 
tations, when  they  would  summon  a  new  soul  to  the 
sick,  or  order  back  to  its  home  some  troublesome 
spirit,  their  invocations  were  ever  addressed  to  the 
winds  from  the  cardinal  points — to  Fauna  the  East 
and  Sauna  the  West,  to  Kauna  the  South  and  Auna 
the  North.2 

1  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  EspaHa,  in  Kingsborough,  v.  p.  375. 

2  Egede,  Nachrichten  von  Oronland,  pp.  137,  173,  285  (Kopen- 
hagen,  1790). 


94  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

As  the  rain-bringers,  as  the  life-givers,  it  were  no  far- 
fetched metaphor  to  call  them  the  fathers  of  our  race. 
Hardly  a  nation  on  the  continent  but  seems  to  have 
had  some  vague  tradition  of  an  origin  from  four  bro- 
thers, to  have  at  some  time  been  led  by  four  leaders  or 
princes,  or  in  some  manner  to  have  connected  the  ap- 
pearance and  action  of  four  important  personages  with 
its  earliest  traditional  history.  Sometimes  the  myth 
defines  clearly  these  fabled  characters  as  the  spirits  of 
the  winds,  sometimes  it  clothes  them  in  uncouth,  gro- 
tesque metaphors,  sometimes  again  it  so  weaves  them 
into  actual  history  that  we  are  at  a  loss  where  to  draw 
the  line  that  divides  fiction  from  truth. 

I  shall  attempt  to  follow  step  by  step  the  growth  of 
this  myth  from  its  simplest  expression,  where  the 
transparent  drapery  makes  no  pretence  to  conceal  its 
true  meaning,  through  the  ever  more  elaborate  narra- 
tives, the  more  strongly  marked  personifications  of 
more  cultivated  nations,  until  it  assumes  the  outlines 
of,  and  has  palmed  itself  upon  the  world  as  actual  his- 
tory. 

This  simplest  form  is  that  which  alone  appears  among 
the  Algonkins  and  Dakotas.  They  both  traced  their 
lives  back  to  four  ancestors,  personages  concerned  in 
various  ways  with  the  first  things  of  time,  not  rightly 
distinguished  as  men  or  gods,  but  very  positively  identi- 
fied with  the  four  winds.  Whether  from  one  or  all  of 
these  the  world  was  peopled,  whether  by  process  of  gen- 
eration or  some  other  more  obscure  way,  the  old  people 
had  not  said,  or  saying,  had  not  agreed.1 

It  is  a  shade  more  complex  when  we  come  to  the 
Creeks.  They  told  of  four  men  who  came  from  the 

1  Schoolcraft,  Algic  Researches,  i.  p.  139,  and  Indian  Tribes,  iv.  p. 


HAITIAN  MYTHS.  95 

four  corners  of  the  earth,  who  brought  them  the  sacred 
fire  from  the  cardinal  points,  and  pointed  out  the  seven 
sacred  plants.  They  were  called  the  Hi-you-yul-gee.1 
Having  rendered  them  this  service,  the  kindly  visitors 
disappeared  in  a  cloud,  returning  whence  they  came. 
When  another  and  more  ancient  legend  informs  us 
that  the  Creeks  were  at  first  divided  into  four  clans, 
and  alleged  a  descent  from  four  female  ancestors,  it 
will  hardly  be  venturing  too  far  to  recognize  in  these 
four  ancestors  the  four  friendly  patrons  from  the  car- 
dinal points.* 

The  ancient  inhabitants  of  Haiti,  when  first  discov- 
ered by  the  Spaniards,  had  a  similar  genealogical  story, 
which  Peter  Martyr  relates  with  various  excuses  for  its 
silliness  and  exclamations  at  its  absurdity.  Perhaps 
the  fault  lay  less  in  its  lack  of  meaning  than  in  his 
want  of  insight.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  men  lived 
in  caves,  and  were  destroyed  by  the  parching  rays  of 
the  sun,  and  were  destitute  of  means  to  prolong  their 
race,  until  they  caught  and  subjected  to  their  use  four 
women  who  were  swift  of  foot  and  slippery  as  eels. 
These  were  the  mothers  of  the  race  of  men.  Or  again, 
it  was  said  that  a  certain  king  had  a  huge  gourd,  which 
contained  all  the  waters  of  the  earth ;  four  brothers, 
who  coming  into  the  world  at  one  birth  had  cost  their 
mother  her  life,  ventured  to  the  gourd  to  fish,  picked  it 
up,  but  frightened  by  the  old  king's  approach,  dropped 

1  Probably  the  plural  form  of  the  sacred  interjection  or  chorus, 
hi-yo-yu ;  though  Gatschet,  who  spells  it  hayayalgi,  considers  it  de- 
rived from  hayayagi,  light  or  radiance.     Migration  Legend  of  the 
Greeks,  vol.  ii.  p.  83. 

2  Hawkins,  Sketch  of  the  Greek  Country,  pp.  81,  82  ;  Blomes,  Ace. 
of  his  Majesty's  Colonies,  p.  156,  London,  1687  ;  Gatschet,  Migration 
Legend  of  the  Creeks,  vol.  i.  p.  231. 


96  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

it  on  the  ground,  broke  it  into  fragments,  and  scattered 
the  waters  over  the  earth,  forming  the  seas,  lakes,  and 
rivers,  as  they  now  are.  These  brothers  in  time  became 
the  fathers  of  a  nation,  and  to  them  they  traced  their 
lineage.1  With  the  previous  examples  before  our  eyes, 
it  asks  no  vivid  fancy  to  see  in  these  quaternions  once 
more  the  four  winds,  the  bringers  of  rain,  so  swift  and 
so  slippery. 

The  Navajos  are  a  rude  tribe  north  of  Mexico.  Yet 
even  they  have  an  allegory  to  the  effect  that  when  the 
first  man  came  up  from  the  ground  under  the  figure  of 
the  moth-worm,  the  four  spirits  of  the  cardinal  points 
were  already  there,  and  hailed  him  with  the  exclama- 
tion, "  Lo,  he  is  of  our  race."*  It  is  a  poor  and  feeble 
effort  to  tell  the  same  old  story. 

In  the  tolerably  well-preserved  legends  of  the  various 
Mayan  tribes,  the  Quiches,  Cakchiquels,  and  Tzentals, 
we  find  constant  reference  to  the  four  ancestors,  or  genii, 
or  guardians,  the  Tutul  Xiu,  or  the  Ghanan.  But,  in- 
deed, this  was  a  trait  of  all  the  civilized  nations  of 
Central  America  and  Mexico.  An  author  who  would 
be  very  unwilling  to  admit  any  mythical  interpretation 
of  the  coincidence  has  adverted  to  it  in  tones  of  aston- 
ishment :  "  In  all  the  Aztec  and  Toltec  histories  there 
are  four  characters  who  constantly  reappear ;  either  as 
priests  or  envoys  of  the  gods,  or  of  hidden  and  disguised 
majesty ;  or  as  guides  and  chieftains  of  tribes  during 

1  Peter  Martyr,  De  Eeb.  Ocean.,  Dec.  i.  lib.  ix.  The  story  is  also 
told  more  at  length  by  the  Brother  Remain  Pane,  in  the  essay  on 
the  ancient  histories  of  the  natives  he  drew  up  by  the  order  of 
Columbus.  It  has  been  reprinted  with  notes  by  the  Abbe  Bras- 
seur,  Paris,  1864,  p.  438,  sqq.  Las  Casas  also  mentions  it,  Historia 
de  las  Indias :  Lib.  ii. 

*  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  iv.  p.  89. 


THE  FOUR  QUARTERS.  97 

their  migrations ;  or  as  kings  and  rulers  of  monarchies 
after  their  foundation  ;  and  even  to  the  time  of  the  con- 
quest, there  are  always  four  princes  who  compose  the 
supreme  government,  whether  in  Guatemala  or  in 
Mexico."1 

This  fourfold  division  points  not  to  a  common  his- 
tory, but  to  a  common  nature.  The  ancient  heroes  and 
demigods,  who,  four  in  number,  figure  in  all  these  an- 
tique traditions,  were  not  men  of  flesh  and  blood,  but 
the  invisible  currents  of  air  who  brought  the  fertilizing 
showers. 

They  corresponded  to  the  four  gods  Bacab,  who  in 
the  Yucatecan  mythology  were  supposed  to  stand  one 
at  each  corner  of  the  world,  supporting,  like  gigantic 
caryatides,  the  overhanging  firmament.  When  at  the 
general  deluge  all  other  gods  and  men  were  swallowed 
by  the  waters  they  alone  escaped  to  people  it  anew. 
These  four,  known  by  the  names  of  Kan,  Muluc,  Ix, 
and  Cauac,  represented  respectively  the  east,  north, 
west,  and  south,  and  as  in  Oriental  symbolism,  so  here 
each  quarter  of  the  compass  was  distinguished  by  a 
color,  the  east  by  yellow,  the  south  by  red,  the  west  by 
black,  and  the  north  by  white.2 

1  Brasseur,  Le  Liv.  Sac.,  Introd.,  p.  cxvii. 

2  Diego  de  Landa,  Ed.  de  las  Cosas  de  Yucatan,  pp.  160,  206, 
208,  ed.  Brasseur.     The  assignment  of  the  colors  was  not  uniform. 
See  my  Primer  of  Mayan  Hieroglyphics,  p.  41.     Such  a  dedication  of 
colors  to  the  cardinal  points  is  universal  in  Central  Asia.     The 
geographical  names  of  the  Ked  Sea,  the  Black  Sea,  the  Yellow  Sea 
or  Persian  Gulf,  and  the  White  Sea  or  the  Mediterranean,  are 
derived  from  this  association.     The  cities  of  China,  many  of  them 
at  least,  have  their  gates  which  open  toward  the  cardinal  points 
painted  of  certain  colors,  and  precisely  these  four,  the  white,  the 
black,  the  red,  and  the  yellow,  are  those  which  in  Oriental  myth 
the  mountain  in  the  centre  of  Paradise  shows  to  the  different  car- 

7 


98  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

The  names  of  these  mysterious  personages,  employed 
somewhat  as  we  do  the  Dominical  letters,  adjusted  the 
calendar  of  the  Mayas,  and  by  their  propitious  or  por- 
tentous combinations  was  arranged  their  system  of 
judicial  astrology.  They  were  the  gods  of  rain,  and 
under  the  title  Chac,  the  Red  Ones,  were  the  chief  min- 
isters of  the  highest  power.  As  such  they  were  repre- 
sented in  the  religious  ceremonies  by  four  old  men, 
constant  attendants  on  the  high  priest  in  his  official 
functions.  In  this  most  civilized  branch  of  the  red 
race,  as  everywhere  else,  we  thus  find  four  mythological 
characters  prominent  beyond  all  others,  giving  a  pecu- 
liar physiognomy  to  the  national  legends,  arts,  and 
sciences ;  and  in  them  once  more  we  recognize  by  signs 
infallible,  personifications  of  the  four  cardinal  points 
and  the  four  winds. 

They  rarely  lose  altogether  their  true  character.  The 
Quich6  legends  tell  us  that  the  four  men  who  were  first 
created  by  the  Heart  of  Heaven,  Hurakan,  the  Air  in 
Motion,  were  infinitely  keen  of  eye  and  swift  of  foot; 
that  "  they  measured  and  saw  all  that  exists  at  the  four 
corners  and  the  four  angles  of  the  sky  and  the  earth ;" 
that  they  did  not  fulfil  the  design  of  their  maker  "  to 
bring  forth  and  produce  when  the  season  of  harvest 
was  near,"  until  he  blew  into  their  eyes  a  cloud,  "  until 
their  faces  were  obscured  as  when  one  breathes  on  a 
mirror."  Then  he  gave  them  as  wives  the  four  mothers 
of  our  species,  whose  names  were  Falling  Water,  Beau- 
tiful Water,  Water  of  Serpents,  and  Water  of  Birds.1 
Truly  he  who  can  see  aught  but  a  transparent  myth  in 

dinal  points.     (Sepp,  Heidenthum  und  Christenthum,  i.  p.  177.)   The 
coincidence  furnishes  food  for  reflection. 

Le  Livre  Sacre  des  Quichts,  pp.  203-5,  note. 


THE  FOUR  IN  ONE.  99 

this  recital  is  a  realist  who  would  astonish  Euhemerus 
himself. 

There  is  in  these  Aztec  legends  a  quaternion  besides 
this  of  the  first  men,  one  that  bears  marks  of  a  profound 
contemplation  on  the  course  of  nature,  one  that  answers 
to  the  former  as  the  heavenly  phase  of  the  earthly  con- 
ception. It  is  seen  in  the  four  personages,  or  perhaps 
we  should  say  modes  of  action,  that  make  up  the  one 
Supreme  Cause  of  All,  Hurakan,  the  breath,  the  wind, 
the  Divine  Spirit.  They  are  He  who  creates,  He  who 
gives  Form,  He  who  gives  Life,  and  He  who  reproduces.1 

This  acute  and  extraordinary  analysis  of  the  origin 
and  laws  of  organic  life,  clothed  under  the  ancient  be- 
lief in  the  action  of  the  winds,  reveals  a  depth  of 
thought  for  which  we  were  hardly  prepared,  and  is  one 
of  the  few  instances  of  speculative  generalization  among 
the  red  race.  It  is  clearly  visible  in  the  earlier  portions 
of  the  legends  of  the  Quiche's,  and  is  the  more  surely 
of  native  origin  as  it  has  been  quite  lost  on  both  their 
translators. 

Go  where  we  will,  the  same  story  meets  us.  The 
empire  of  the  Incas  was  attributed  in  the  sacred  chants 
of  the  Amautas,  the  priests  assigned  to  take  charge  of 
the  records,  to  four  brothers  and  their  wives.  These 
mythical  civilizers  are  said  to  have  emerged  from  a 

1  The  analogy  is  remarkable  between  these  and  the  "quatre 
actes  de  la  puissance  generatrice  jusqu'a  1'entier  developpement 
des  corps  organises, ' '  portrayed  by  four  globes  in  the  Mycenean 
bas-reliefs.  See  Guigniaut,  Religions  de  PAntiquite,  i.  p.  374.  It 
were  easy  to  multiply  the  instances  of  such  parallelism  in  the 
growth  of  religious  thought  in  the  Old  and  New  World,  but  I 
refrain  from  the  temptation,  as  their  discussion  would  involve  the 
study  of  primitive  religions  in  general,  which  would  take  me  too 
far  from  the  aim  of  the  present  work. 


100  THE  SACKED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

cave  called  Pacari  tampu,  which  may  mean  "  the  House 
of  Subsistence,"  reminding  us  of  the  four  heroes  who 
in  Aztec  legend  set  forth  to  people  the  world  from  Tona- 
catepec,  the  mountain  of  our  subsistence  :  or  again  it 
may  mean — for  like  many  of  these  mythical  names  it 
seems  to  have  been  designedly  chosen  to  bear  a  double 
construction — the  Lodgings  of  the  Dawn,  recalling  an- 
other Aztec  legend  which  points  for  the  birthplace  of 
the  race  to  Tula  in  the  distant  orient.1 

The  cave  itself  suggests  to  the  classical  reader  that 
of  Eolus,  or  may  be  paralleled  with  that  in  which  the 
Iroquois  fabled  the  winds  were  imprisoned  by  their 
lord,  or  with  that  in  which,  according  to  early  Christian 
legend,  Jesus  was  born.  These  brothers  were  of  no 
common  kin.  Their  voices  could  shake  the  earth  and 
their  hands  heap  up  mountains.  Like  the  thunder 
god,  they  stood  on  the  hills  and  hurled  their  sling- 
stones  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.  When  one  was 
overpowered  he  fled  upward  to  the  heaven  or  was 
turned  into  stone,  and  it  was  by  their  aid  and  counsel 
that  the  savages  who  possessed  the  land  renounced 
their  barbarous  habits  and  commenced  to  till  the  soil. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  this  in  turn  is  but  an- 
other transformation  of  the  Protean  myth  we  have  so 
long  pursued.2 

There  are  traces  of  the  same  legend  among  many 
other  tribes  of  the  continent,  but  the  trustworthy  re- 

1  See  H.  Cunow,  Die  sociale  Verfassung  des  Inkardchs,  p.  20  (Stutt- 
gart, 1896). 

*  For  the  mythology  of  Peru,  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  Comentarios 
Reales,  and  the  Tres  Rdaeiones  Peruanas,  published  in  Madrid, 
1879,  are  valuable  authorities.  A  good  resume  is  given  by  J.  G. 
Muller,  Amerikanische  Urreligionen,  pp.  308  sqq.,  from  the  older 
writers.  Von  Tschudi,  Middendorf  and  Markham  are  more  recent. 


THE  FOUR  BBOTHEES.  101 

ports  we  have  of  them  are  too  scanty  to  permit  analy- 
sis. Enough  that  they  are  mentioned  in  a  note,  for 
it  is  every  way  likely  that  could  we  resolve  their  mean- 
ing they  too  would  carry  us  back  to  the  four  winds.1 

Let  no  one  suppose,  however,  that  this  was  the  only 
myth  of  the  origin  of  man.  Far  from  it.  It  was  but 
one  of  many,  for,  as  I  shall  hereafter  attempt  to  show, 

1  The  Tupis  of  Brazil  claim  a  descent  from  four  brothers,  three 
of  whose  names  are  given  by  Hans  Staden,  a  prisoner  among  them 
about  1550,  as  Krimen,  Hermittan,  and  Ceem  ;  the  latter  he  ex- 
plains to  mean  the  morning,  the  east  (le  matin,  printed  by  mistake 
le  mutin,  Relation  de  Hans  Staden  de  Homberg,  p.  274,  ed.  Ternaux- 
Compans;  compare  Adam,  Gram.  Comp.  de  la  Langue  Tupi,  s.  v. 
Koema).  Their  southern  relatives,  the  Guaranis  of  Paraguay,  also 
spoke  of  the  four  brothers  and  gave  two  of  their  names  as  Tupi 
and  Guarani,  respectively  parents  of  the  tribes  called  after  them 
(Guevara,  Hist,  del  Paraguay,  lib.  i.  cap.  ii.,  in  Waitz).  The  four- 
fold division  of  the  Muyscas  of  Bogota  was  traced  back  to  four 
chieftains  created  by  their  hero  god  Nemqueteba  (E.  Bestrepo, 
Los  Aborigines  de  Colombia,  cap.  iii.,  Bogota,  1892).  The  Nahuas 
of  Mexico  much  more  frequently  spoke  of  themselves  as  descend- 
ants of  four  or  eight  original  families  than  of  seven  (Humboldt, 
ibid.,  p.  317,  and  others  in  Waitz,  Anthropologie,  iv.  pp.  36,  37). 
The  Sacs  or  Sauks  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  supposed  that  two 
men  and  two  women  were  first  created,  and  from  these  four  sprang 
all  men  (Morse,  Rep.  on  Ind.  Affairs,  App.  p.  138).  The  Ottoes, 
Pawnees,  "and  other  Indians,"  had  a  tradition  that  from  eight 
ancestors  all  nations  and  races  were  descended  (Id.  p.  249).  This 
duplication  of  the  number  probably  arose  from  assigning  the  first 
four  men  four  women  as  wives.  The  division  into  clans  or  totems 
which  prevails  in  most  northern  tribes  rests  theoretically  on  de- 
scent from  different  ancestors.  The  Shawnees  and  Natchez  were 
divided  into  four  such  clans,  the  Choctaws,  Navajos,  and  Iroquoia 
into  eight,  thus  proving  that  in  those  tribes  also  the  myth  I  have 
been  discussing  was  recognized.  A  tribe  visited  by  Lederer  in  Vir- 
ginia was  composed  of  four  clans,  who  neither  married  nor  buried 
together  (Discoveries,  p.  5,  London,  1672). 


102  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

the  laws  that  governed  the  formations  of  such  myths 
not  only  allowed  but  enjoined  great  divergence  of  form. 
Equally  far  was  it  from  being  the  only  image  which  the 
inventive  fancy  hit  upon  to  express  the  action  of  the 
winds  as  the  rain  bringers.  They  too  were  many,  but 
may  all  be  included  in  a  twofold  division,  either  as  the 
winds  were  supposed  to  flow  in  from  the  corners  of  the 
earth  or  outward  from  its  central  point. 

Thus  they  are  spoken  of  under  such  figures  as  four 
tortoises  at  the  angles  of  the  earthly  plane  who  vomit 
forth  the  rains,1  or  four  gigantic  caryatides  who  sustain 
the  heavens  and  blow  the  winds  from  their  capacious 
lungs,2  or  more  frequently  as  four  rivers  flowing  from 
the  broken  calabash  on  high,  as  the  Haitians,  draining 
the  waters  of  the  primitive  world,3  as  four  animals  who 
bring  from  heaven  the  maize,*  as  four  messengers  whom 
the  god  of  air  sends  forth,  or  under  a  coarser  trope  as 
the  spittle  he  ejects  toward  the  cardinal  points  which  is 
straightway  transformed  into  wild  rice,  tobacco,  and 
maize.5 

Constantly  from  the  palace  of  the  lord  of  the  world, 
seated  on  the  high  hill  of  heaven,  blow  four  winds, 
pour  four  streams,  refreshing  and  fecundating  the  earth. 
Therefore,  in  the  myths  of  ancient  Iran  there  is  men- 
tion of  a  celestial  fountain,  Arduisur,  the  virgin  daugh- 
ter of  Ormuzd,  whence  four  all  nourishing  rivers  roll 
their  waves  toward  the  cardinal  points ;  therefore  the 
Tibetans  believe  that  on  the  sacred  mountain  of  Hi- 
mavata  grows  the  tree  of  life  Zampu,  from  whose  foot 

1  Mandans  in  Catlin,  Letts,  and  Notes,  i.  p.  181. 

3  The  Mayas,  Cogolludo,  Hist,  de  Yueathan,  lib.  iv.  cap.  8. 

3  The  Navajos,  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  iv.  p.  89. 

4  The  Quiches,  Ximenes,  Or.  de  los  Indies,  p.  79. 

6  The  Iroquois,  Muller,  Amer.  Urrelicfionen,  p.  109. 


THE  RIVERS  OF  PARADISE.  103 

once  more  flow  the  waters  of  life  in  four  streams  to  the 
four  quarters  of  the  world ;  and  therefore  it  is  that  the 
same  tale  is  told  by  the  Chinese  of  the  mountain  Kou- 
antun,  by  the  Edda  of  the  mountain  in  Asaheim, 
whence  flows  the  spring  Hvergelmir,  by  the  Brahmins 
of  Mount  Meru,  and  by  the  Parsees  of  Mount  Albors 
in  the  Caucasus.  Need  I  add  to  this  catalogue  the 
legend  of  the  four  rivers  of  Paradise,  borrowed  in 
Genesis  from  ancient  Babylonian  myths,  and  which 
learned  men  to-day,  like  the  writer  of  that  venerable 
document,  strive  in  vain  to  identify  with  rivers  of  ter- 
restrial geography  ? 

Each  nation  called  their  sacred  mountain  "  the  navel 
of  the  earth;"  for  not  only  was  it  the  supposed  centre 
of  the  habitable  world,  but  through  it,  as  the  foetus 
through  the  umbilical  cord,  the  earth  drew  her  in- 
crease.1 Beyond  all  other  spots  were  they  accounted 
fertile,  scenes  of  joyous  plaisance,  of  repose,  and  eter- 
nal youth ;  there  rippled  the  waters  of  health,  there 
blossomed  the  tree  of  life ;  they  were  fit  trysting  spots 
of  gods  and  men. 

Hence  came  the  tales  of  the  terrestrial  paradise,  the 
rose  garden  of  Feridun,  the  Eden  gardens  of  the  world. 
The  name  shows  the  origin,  for  paradise  (in  Sanscrit, 
para  desa)  means  literally  high  land.  There,  in  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  Orient,  dwelt  once  in  un- 
alloyed delight  the  first  of  men;  thence  driven  by 
untoward  fate,  no  more  anywhere  could  they  find  the 

1  The  navel  string  was  regarded  as  a  specially  sacred  object  by 
many  American  tribes.  It  was  buried,  and  at  certain  seasons  the 
individual  to  whom  it  belonged  visited  the  spot  to  perform  reli- 
gious rites.  See  Sahagun,  Historia,  Lib.  v.  App.  ;  Kingsborough, 
Mexican  Antiquities,  vol.  v.  p.  91  ;  Brinton,  The  Native  Calendar, 
p.  18. 


104  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

path  thither.  Some  thought  that  in  the  north  among 
the  fortunate  Hyperboreans,  others  that  in  the  moun- 
tains of  the  moon  where  dwelt  the  long  lived  Ethio- 
pians, and  others  again  that  in  the  furthest  east, 
underneath  the  dawn,  was  situate  the  seat  of  pristine 
happiness ;  but  many  were  of  opinion  that  somewhere 
in  the  western  sea,  beyond  the  pillars  of  Hercules  and 
the  waters  of  the  Outer  Ocean,  lay  the  garden  of  the 
Hesperides,  the  Islands  of  the  Blessed,  the  earthly 
Elysion. 

It  is  not  without  design  that  I  recall  this  early  dream 
of  the  religious  fancy.  When  Christopher  Columbus, 
fired  by  the  hope  of  discovering  this  terrestrial  para- 
dise,1 broke  the  enchantment  of  the  cloudy  sea  and 
found  a  new  world,  it  was  but  to  light  upon  the  same 
race  of  men,  deluding  themselves  with  the  same  hope 
of  earthly  joys,  the  same  fiction  of  a  long  lost  garden 
of  their  youth.  They  told  him  that  still  in  the  west, 
amid  the  mountains  of  Paria,  was  a  spot  whence 
flowed  mighty  streams  over  all  lands,  and  which  in 
sooth  was  the  spot  he  sought  ;2  and  when  that  baseless 
fabric  had  vanished,  there  still  remained  the  fabled 
island  of  Boiuca,  or  Bimini,  hundreds  of  leagues  north 
of  Hispaniola,  whose  glebe  was  watered  by  a  fountain 
of  such  noble  virtue  as  to  restore  youth  and  vigor  to 
the  worn  out  and  the  aged.3 

This  was  no  fiction  of  the  natives  to  rid  themselves 
of  burdensome  guests.  Long  before  the  white  man 
approached  their  shores,  families  had  started  from 

1  That  such  was  in   part  his  purpose,  see   Navarrete,    Viages, 
Tom.  i.  p.  259. 

2  Peter  Martyr,  De  Eeb.  Ocean.,  Dec.  iii.,  lib.  ix.  p.  195  (Colon, 
1574). 

s  Ibid.,  Dec.  iii.,  lib.  x.  p.  202. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  OF  LIFE.  105 

Cuba,  Yucatan,  and  Honduras  in  search  of  these  reno- 
vating waters,  and  not  returning,  were  supposed  by 
their  kindred  to  have  been  detained  by  the  delights  of 
that  enchanted  land,  and  to  be  revelling  in  its  seduc- 
tive joys,  forgetful  of  former  ties.1 

Perhaps  it  was  but  another  rendering  of  the  same 
belief  that  pointed  to  the  impenetrable  forests  of  the 
Orinoco,  the  ancient  homes  of  the  Caribs  and  Ara- 
wacks,  and  there  located  the  famous  realm  of  El 
Dorado  with  its  imperial  capital  Manoa,  abounding  in 
precious  metals  and  all  manner  of  gems,  peopled  by  a 
happy  race,  and  governed  by  an  equitable  ruler. 

The  Aztec  priests  never  chanted  more  regretful  dirges 
than  when  they  sang  of  Tulan,  the  cradle  of  their  race, 
where  once  it  dwelt  in  peaceful  indolent  happiness, 
whose  groves  were  filled  with  birds  of  sweet  voices  and 
gay  plumage,  whose  generous  soil  brought  forth  spon- 
taneously maize,  cacao,  aromatic  gums,  and  fragrant 
flowers.  "  Land  of  riches  and  plenty,  where  the  gourds 
grow  an  arm's  length  across,  where  an  ear  of  corn  is  a 
load  for  a  stout  man,  and  its  stalks  are  as  high  as  trees ; 
land  where  the  cotton  ripens  of  its  own  accord  of  all 
rich  tints ;  land  abounding  with  limpid  emeralds,  tur- 
quoises, gold,  and  silver."2 

This  land  was  also  called  Tlalocan,  from  Tlaloc,  the 
god  of  rain,  who  there  had  his  dwelling  place,  and  Tla- 
pallan,  the  land  of  colors,  or  the  red  land,  for  the  hues 

1  Florida  was  also  long  supposed  to  be  the  site  of  this  wondrous 
spring,  and  it  is  notorious  that  both  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon  and  De 
Soto  had  some  lurking  hope  of  discovering  it  in  their  expeditions 
thither.     I  have  examined  the  myth  somewhat  at  length  in  Notes 
on  the  Floridian  Peninsula,  its  Literary  History,  Indian  Tribes,  and 
Antiquities,  pp.  99,  100  (Philadelphia,  1859). 

2  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espafta,  lib.  iii.  cap.  iii. 


106  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

of  the  sky  at  sunrise  floated  over  it.  Its  inhabitants 
were  surnamed  children  of  the  air,  or  of  Quetzalcoatl, 
and  from  its  centre  rose  the  holy  mountain  Tonacate- 
pec,  the  mountain  of  our  life  or  subsistence.  Its  sup- 
posed location  was  in  the  east,  whence  in  that  country 
blow  the  winds  that  bring  mild  rains,  says  Sahagun, 
and  that  missionary  was  himself  asked,  as  coming  from 
the  east,  whether  his  home  was  in  Tlapallan ;  more 
definitely  by  some  it  was  situated  among  the  lofty 
peaks  on  the  frontiers  of  Guatemala,  and  all  the  great 
rivers  that  water  the  earth  were  supposed  to  have  their 
sources  there.1 

But  here,  as  elsewhere,  its  site  was  not  determined. 
"  There  is  a  Tulan,"  says  an  ancient  authority,  "  where 
the  sun  rises,  and  there  is  another  in  the  land  of  shades, 
and  another  where  the  sun  reposes,  and  thence  came 
we ;  and  still  another  where  the  sun  reposes,  and  there 
dwells  God."2 

1  Le  Livre  Sacre  des  Quiches,  Introd.,  p.  clviii. 

2  Memorial  de  Tecpan  Atitlan,  in  Brasseur,  Hist,  du  Mexique, 
i.  p.  167.     The  derivation  of  Tulan,  or  Tula,  is  extremely  uncer- 
tain.    The  Abbe  Brasseur  saw  in  it  the  ultima  Thule  of  the  ancient 
geographers,  which  suited  his  idea  of  early  American  history.  Her- 
nando  De  Soto  found  a  village  of  this  name  on  the  Mississippi,  or 
near  it.     But  on  looking  into  Gallatin's  vocabularies,  tulla  turns  out 
to  be  the  Choctaw  word  for  stone,  and  as  De  Soto  was  then  in  the 
Choctaw  country,  the  coincidence  is  explained  at  once.     Busch- 
mann,  who  spells  it  Tollan,  takes  it  from  tolin,  a  rush,  and  translates, 
juncetum,  Ort  der  Binsen.  (Ueber  die  Aztekischen  Orstnamen,  p. 682.)  It 
is  sometimes  found  in  the  form  Tonallan,  which  means  ' '  the  sunny 
place,"  from  tonatiuh  with  the  ending  tian.     Those  who  have  at- 
tempted to  make  history  from  these  mythological  fables  have  been 
much  puzzled  about  the  location  of  this  mystic  land.     Humboldt 
has  placed  it  on  the  northwest  coast,  Cabrera  at  Palenque,  Clavi- 
gero  north  of  Anahuac,  etc.  etc.     M.  de  Charencey  remarks  that 
more  than  twenty  cities  in  Mexico  and  Central  America  bore  this 


THE  EDEN  GARDEN.  107 

The  myth  of  the  Quiches  but  changes  the  name  of 
this  pleasant  land.  With  them  it  was  Pan-paxil-pa- 
cayala,  where  the  waters  divide  in  falling,  or,  between 
the  waters  parcelled  out  and  mucky.  This  was  "  an 
excellent  land,  full  of  pleasant  things,  where  was  store 
of  white  corn  and  yellow  corn,  where  one  could  not 
count  the  fruits,  nor  estimate  the  quantity  of  honey 
and  food."  Over  it  ruled  the  lord  of  the  air,  and  from 
it  the  four  sacred  animals  carried  the  corn  to  make  the 
flesh  of  men.1 

Once  again,  in  the  legends  of  the  Mixtecas,  we  hear 
the  old  story  repeated  of  the  garden  where  the  first  two 
brothers  dwelt.  It  lay  between  a  meadow  and  that 
lofty  peak  which  supports  the  heavens  and  the  palaces 
of  the  gods.  "  Many  trees  were  there,  such  as  yield 
flowers  and  roses,  very  luscious  fruits,  divers  herbs,  and 
aromatic  spices."  The  names  of  the  brothers  were  the 
Wind  of  Nine  Serpents  and  the  Wind  of  Nine  Caverns. 
The  first  was  as  an  eagle,  and  flew  aloft  over  the  waters 
that  poured  around  their  enchanted  garden  ;  the  sec- 
ond was  as  a  serpent  with  wings,  who  proceeded  with 
such  velocity  that  he  pierced  rocks  and  walls.  Thsy 
were  too  swift  to  be  seen  by  the  sharpest  eye,  and  were 
one  near  as  they  passed,  he  was  only  aware  of  a  whisper 
and  a  rustling  like  that  of  the  wind  in  the  leaves.2 

name.  (Le  Mythe  de  Votan,  p.  29.)  Aztlan,  literally  the  White  Land, 
is  another  name  originally  of  mythical  purport  which  it  would  be 
equally  vain  to  seek  on  the  terrestrial  globe.  In  the  extract  in  the 
text,  the  word  translated  God  is  Qabavil,  an  old  word  for  the  highest 
god,  either  from  a  root  meaning  to  open,  to  disclose,  or  from  one 
of  similar  form  signifying  to  wonder,  to  marvel  ;  literally,  there- 
fore, the  Eevealer,  or  the  Wondrous  One  ( Vocab.  de  la  Lenyua 
Quiche,  p.  209  :  Paris,  1862). 

1  Ximenes,  Or.  de  los  Indies,  p.  80,  Le  Livre  Sacre,  p.  195. 

2  Garcia,  Origen  de  los  Indios,  lib.  iv.  cap.  4. 


108  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

Wherever,  in  short,  the  lust  of  gold  lured  the  early 
adventurers,  they  were  told  of  some  nation  a  little  fur- 
ther on,  some  wealthy  and  prosperous  land,  abundant 
and  fertile,  satisfying  the  desire  of  the  heart.  It  was 
sometimes  deceit,  and  it  was  sometimes  the  credited  fic- 
tion of  the  earthly  paradise,  that  in  all  ages  has  with  a 
promise  of  perfect  joy  consoled  the  aching  heart  of 
man. 

It  is  instructive  to  study  the  associations  that  nat- 
urally group  themselves  around  each  of  the  cardinal 
points,  and  watch  how  these  are  mirrored  on  the  sur- 
face of  language,  and  have  directed  the  current  of 
thought.  Jacob  Grimm  has  performed  this  task  with 
fidelity  and  beauty  as  regards  the  Aryan  race,  but  the 
means  are  wanting  to  apply  his  searching  method  to 
the  indigenous  tongues  of  America.  Enough  if  in 
general  terms  their  mythological  value  be  determined. 

When  the  day  begins  man  wakes  from  his  slumbers, 
faces  the  rising  sun,  and  prays.  The  east  is  before 
him ;  by  it  he  learns  all  other  directions ;  it  is  to  him 
what  the  north  is  to  the  needle ;  with  reference  to  it 
he  assigns  in  his  mind  the  position  of  the  three  other 
cardinal  points.1  There  is  the  starting  place  of  the 
celestial  fires,  the  home  of  the  sun,  the  womb  of  the 
morning.  It  represents  in  space  the  beginning  of 
things  in  time,  and  as  the  bright  and  glorious  creatures 
of  the  sky  come  forth  thence,  man  conceits  that  his 
ancestors  also  in  remote  ages  wandered  from  the 
orient ;  there  in  the  opinion  of  many  in  both  the  old 
and  new  world  was  the  cradle  of  the  race ;  there  in 
Aztec  legend  was  the  fabled  land  of  Tlapallan,  and  the 
wind  from  the  east  was  called  the  wind  of  Paradise, 

1  Compare  the  German  expression  sich  orientiren,  to  right  one- 
self by  the  east,  to  understand  one's  surroundings. 


EAST  AND  WEST.  109 

Tlalocavitl.  "The  East,"  says  Mr.  Dorsey,  speaking 
of  the  Dakotas,  "  symbolizes  life  and  the  source  there- 
of;" therefore  they  lay  a  corpse  with  the  head  to  the 
east,  as  intimating  the  hope  of  a  future  life.1 

From  this  direction  came,  according  to  the  almost 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  Indian  tribes,  those  hero 
gods  who  taught  them  arts  and  religion,  thither  they 
returned,  and  from  thence  they  would  again  appear  to 
resume  their  ancient  sway.  As  the  dawn  brings  light, 
and  with  light  is  associated  in  every  human  mind  the 
ideas  of  knowledge,  safety,  protection,  majesty,  divinity, 
as  it  dispels  the  spectres  of  night,  as  it  defines  the  car- 
dinal points,  and  brings  forth  the  sun  and  the  day,  it 
occupied  the  primitive  mind  to  an  extent  that  can 
hardly  be  magnified  beyond  the  truth.  It  is  in  fact 
the  central  figure  in  most  natural  religions. 

The  west,  as  the  grave  of  the  heavenly  luminaries, 
or  rather  as  their  goal  and  place  of  repose,  brings  with 
it  thoughts  of  sleep,  of  death,  of  tranquillity,  of  rest 
from  labor.  When  the  evening  of  his  days  was  come, 
when  his  course  was  run,  and  man  had  sunk  from 
sight,  he  was  supposed  to  follow  the  sun  and  find  some 
spot  of  repose  for  his  tired  soul  in  the  distant  west. 
There,  with  general  consent,  the  tribes  north  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  supposed  the  happy  hunting  grounds ; 
there,  taught  by  the  same  analogy,  the  ancient  Aryans 
placed  the  Nerriti,  the  exodus,  the  land  of  the  dead,  as 
also  did  the  Egyptians  and  many  other  nations  of  the 
Old  World.  "The  old  notion  among  us,"  said  on  one 
occasion  a  distinguished  chief  of  the  Creek  nation,  "  is 
that  when  we  die  the  spirit  goes  the  way  the  sun  goes, 

1  J.  O.  Dorsey,  A  Study  of  Siouan  Cults,  in  llth  Hep.  Bur.  of 
Ethnology,  p.  377. 


110  THE  SACBED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

to  the  west,  and  there  joins  its  family  and  friends  who 
went  before  it.1 

In  the  northern  hemisphere  the  shadows  fall  to  the 
north,  thence  blow  cold  and  furious  winds,  thence 
come  the  snow  and  early  thunder.  Perhaps  all  its 
primitive  inhabitants,  of  whatever  race,  thought  it  the 
seat  of  the  mighty  gods.2  A  floe  of  ice  in  the  Arctic 
Sea  was  the  home  of  the  guardian  spirit  of  the  Algon- 
kins  ;s  on  a  mountain  near  the  north  star  the  Dakotas 
thought  Heyoka  dwelt  who  rules  the  seasons ;  and  the 
realm  of  Mictli,  the  Aztec  god  of  death,  lay  where  the 
shadows  pointed.  From  that  cheerless  abode  his 
sceptre  reached  over  all  creatures,  even  the  gods  them- 
selves, for  sooner  or  later  all  must  fall  before  him.  The 
great  spirit  of  the  dead,  said  the  Ottawas,  lives  in  the 
dark  north,*  and  there,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Monquis 
of  California,  resided  their  chief  god,  Gumongo.5 

Unfortunately  the  makers  of  vocabularies  have  rarely 
included  the  words  north,  south,  east,  and  west,  in  their 
lists,  and  the  methods  of  expressing  these  ideas  adopted 
by  the  Indians  can  only  be  partially  discovered.  The 
east  and  west  were  usually  called  from  the  rising  and 
setting  of  the  sun  as  in  our  words  orient  and  Occident, 
but  occasionally  from  traditional  notions.  The  Mayas 
named  the  west  the  greater,  the  east  the  lesser  debarka- 
tion ;  believing  that  while  their  culture  hero  Zamna 
came  from  the  east  with  a  few  attendants,  the  mass  of 
the  population  arrived  from  the  opposite  direction.6 

Hawkins,  Sketch  of  the  Creek  Country,  p.  80. 

See  Jacob  Grimm,  Geschichte  der  Deutschen  Sprache,  p.  681. 

De  Smet,  Oregon  Missions,  p.  352. 

Bressani,  Relation  Abrege,  p.  93. 

Venegas,  Hist,  of  California,  i.  p.  91  (London,  1759). 

Cogolludo,  Hist,  de  Ywathan,  lib.  iv.  cap.  iii. 


NORTH  AND  SOUTH.  Ill 

The  Aztecs  spoke  of  the  east  as  u  the  direction  of 
Tlalocan,"  the  terrestrial  paradise. 

For  north  and  south  there  were  no  such  natural 
appellations,  and  consequently  the  greatest  diversity  is 
exhibited  in  the  plans  adopted  to  express  them.  The 
north  in  the  Caddo  tongue  is  "  the  place  of  cold,"  in 
Dakota  "  the  situation  of  the  pines,"  in  Creek  "  the 
abode  of  the  (north)  star,"  in  Algonkin  "  the  home  of 
the  soul,"  in  Aztec  "the  direction  of  Mictla,"  the  realm 
of  death,  in  Quiche  and  Quichua  "  to  the  right  hand;"1 
while  for  the  south  we  find  such  terms  as  in  Dakota 
"  the  downward  direction,"  in  Algonkin  "  the  place  of 
warmth,"  in  Quiche  "to  the  left  hand,"  while  among 
the  Eskimos,  who  look  in  this  direction  for  the  sun,  its 
name  implies  "  before  one,"  just  as  does  the  Hebrew 
word  Icedem,  which,  however,  this  more  southern  tribe 
applied  to  the  east. 

We  can  trace  the  sacredness  of  the  number  four  in 
other  curious  and  unlooked-for  developments.  Multi- 
plied into  the  number  of  the  fingers — the  arithmetic 
of  every  child  and  primitive  man — or  by  adding  to- 
gether the  first  four  members  of  its  arithmetical  series 
(4  +  8  +  12  + 16),  it  gives  the  number  forty.  This  was 
taken  as  a  limit  to  the  sacred  dances  of  some  Indian 

1  Alexander  von  Humboldt  has  asserted  that  the  Quichuas  had 
other  and  very  circumstantial  terms  to  express  the  cardinal  points 
drawn  from  the  positions  of  the  sun  (Ansichten  der  Natur,  ii.  p. 
368).  But  the  distinguished  naturalist  overlooked  the  literal 
meaning  of  the  phrases  he  quotes  for  north  and  south,  intip  chau- 
tuta  chayananpata  and  intip  chaupunchau  chayancmpata,  literally,  the 
sun  arriving  toward  the  midnight,  the  sun  arriving  toward  the 
midday.  These  are  evidently  translations  of  the  Spanish  haeia  la 
media,  noche,  hada  d  media  dia,  for  they  could  not  have  originated 
among  a  people  under  or  south  of  the  equatorial  line.  Other  terms 
are  given  by  Middendorf,  Keshua  Worterbiwh,  s.  v.  inti. 


112  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

tribes,  and  by  others  as  the  highest  number  of  chants 
to  be  employed  in  exorcising  diseases.  Consequently 
it  came  to  be  fixed  as  a  limit  in  exercises  of  prepara- 
tion or  purification.  The  females  of  the  Orinoco  tribes 
fasted  forty  days  before  marriage,  and  those  of  the 
upper  Mississippi  were  held  unclean  the  same  length 
of  time  after  childbirth;  such  was  the  term  of  the 
Prince  of  Tezcuco's  fast  when  he  wished  an  heir  to  his 
throne,  and  such  the  number  of  days  the  Mandans 
supposed  it  required  to  wash  clean  the  world  at  the 
deluge.1 

No  one  is  ignorant  how  widely  this  belief  was  preva- 
lent in  the  old  world,  nor  how  the  quadrigesimal  is  still 
a  sacred  term  with  some  denominations  of  Christianity. 

In  another  phase  of  custom  the  cardinal  points  were 
closely  associated  with  ceremonies  relating  to  reverence 
paid  the  heavenly  bodies,  not  only  in  America  but  nigh 
universally.  The  marriage  rite  of  the  Indian  Aryans 
prescribed  that  the  couple  should  walk  together  thrice 
around  a  fire,  keeping  it  on  their  right,  thus  following 
the  apparent  motion  of  the  sun  and  stars.  In  Scot- 
land there  still  survive  many  superstitions  connected 
with  the  deisel,  the  similar  movement  from  left  to  right, 
and  with  the  widdershins,  the  motion  in  the  reverse 
direction.  Thus  arose  the  "  sinistral  and  dextral  cir- 
cuits," and  the  notions  of  good  or  ill  luck  connected 
with  one  or  the  other  hand,  the  left  often  bearing  the 
happier  augury.2 

From  their  original  associations  the  motion  with  the 
heavenly  bodies  came  to  represent  celestial,  that  con- 

i  Catlin,  Letters  and  Notes,  i.,  Letter  22 ;  La  Hontan,  Memmres, 
ii.  p.  151;  Gumilla,  Hist,  del  Orinoco,  p.  159. 

*  As  in  Rome,  China  and  also  Mexico.  Orozco  y  Berra,  Hist. 
Antigua  de  Mexico,  i.  p.  125. 


THE  CEREMONIAL  CIRCUIT.  113 

trary  to  them  terrestrial  symbolism,  and  so  they  are 
explained  to  this  day  in  Korea,  where,  as  in  many  other 
lands,  they  are  prominent  in  methods  of  divination,  in 
the  rituals  of  religion,  in  the  offices  of  courtesy,  and  in 
games  of  chance  and  recreation.1 

All  this  is  repeated  in  America.  We  find  the  same 
games,  patolli,  tlachtli,  etc.,  the  same  methods  of  divi- 
nation, the  same  religious  processions,  hased  on  the 
idea  of  following  or  reversing  the  apparent  motions 
of  the  stars  in  naming,  arranging  or  visiting  the  four 
world  quarters.  When  in  the  tribal  circle  the  various 
gentes  were  assigned  their  places  with  reference  to  the 
cardinal  points,  the  formal  movements  of  the  assembly 
were  prescribed  in  a  "  ceremonial  circuit "  of  this  na- 
ture with  rigidity.  In  the  sacred  dances  the  similar 
motions  were  taught,  the  men  sometimes  moving  in 
one,  the  women  in  the  other  direction.  As  the  gods  visit 
the  regions  of  the  heavens  in  due  order  and  solemn 
procession,  so  it  was  conceived  should  man  ceremoni- 
ally move  from  one  to  another  of  the  regions  of  the  ter- 
restrial plane  ;  but  as  man  is  not  of  the  gods,  there  were 
reasons  why  his  circuit  should  often  differ  from  theirs.2 

But  a  more  striking  parallelism  awaits  us.  The  sym- 
bol that  beyond  all  others  has  fascinated  the  human 
mind,  THE  CROSS,  finds  here  its  source  and  meaning. 
Scholars  have  pointed  out  its  sacredness  in  many  nat- 
ural religions,  and  have  reverently  accepted  it  as  a 
mystery,  or  offered  scores  of  conflicting  and  'often  de- 
basing interpretations.  It  is  but  another  symbol  of 
the  four  cardinal  points,  the  four  winds  of  heaven.  This 

1  Stewart  Culin,  Korean  Games,  Introduction. 

8  On  this  interesting  subject  see  J.  O.  Dorsey,  Study  of  Siouan 
Cults,  chap.  vii.  ;  J.  W.  Fewkes,  in  Jour.  Amer.  Folk-lore,  1892,  p. 
33 ;  F.  H.  Cushing,  in  Amer.  Anthropologist,  1892,  p.  303,  etc. 
8 


114  THE  SACKED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

will  luminously  appear  by  a  study  of  its  use  and  mean- 
ing in  America. 

The  Catholic  missionaries  found  it  was  no  new  object 
of  adoration  to  the  red  race,  and  were  in  doubt  whether 
to  ascribe  the  fact  to  the  pious  labors  of  St.  Thomas  or 
the  sacrilegious  subtlety  of  Satan.  It  was  the  central 
object  in  the  great  temple  of  Cozumel,  and  is  still  pre- 
served on  the  bas-reliefs  of  the  ruined  city  of  Palenque. 
From  time  immemorial  it  had  received  the  prayers  and 
sacrifices  of  the  Nahuas  and  Mayas,  and  was  suspended 
as  an  august  emblem  from  the  walls  of  temples  in  Po- 
poyan  and  Cundinamarca.  In  the  Mexican  tongue  it 
bore  the  significant  and  worthy  name  "  Tree  of  Our 
Life,"  or  "  Tree  of  our  Flesh  "  (Tonacaquahuitl).  It 
represented  the  god  of  rains  and  of  health,  and  this 
was  everywhere  its  simple  meaning.  "  Those  of  Yu- 
catan," say  the  chroniclers,  "  prayed  to  the  cross  as  the 
god  of  rains  when  they  needed  water."  And  Las  Casas, 
the  early  bishop  of  Chiapas,  tells  us  that  "  around  the 
principal  water-springs,  the  natives  were  wont  to  erect 
four  altars,  in  the  form  of  a  cross."1  The  Aztec  goddess 
of  rains  bore  a  cross  in  her  hand,  and  at  the  feast  cele- 
brated to  her  honor  in  the  early  spring,  victims  were 
nailed  to  a  cross  and  shot  with  arrows. 

Quetzalcoatl,  as  god  of  the  winds,  bore  as  his  sign 
of  office  "  a  mace  like  the  cross  of  a  bishop ;"  his  robe 
was  covered  with  them  strown  like  flowers,  and  its 
adoration  was  throughout  connected  with  his  worship.2 

1  Historid  Apologelica,  cap.  121. 

4  On  the  worship  of  the  cross  in  Mexico  and  Yucatan  and 
its  invariable  meaning  as  representing  the  gods  of  rain,  con- 
sult Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist,  des  Chickimeques,  p.  5 ;  Las  Casas, 
Hist.  Apologetica,  c.  121 ;  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espana,  lib. 
i.  cap.  ii.  Garcia,  Or.  de  los  Indios,  lib.  iii.  cap.  vi.  p.  109 ;  Pala- 


BAIN-MAKING.  115 

When  the  Muyscas  would  sacrifice  to  the  goddess  of 
waters  they  extended  cords  across  the  tranquil  depths 
of  some  lake,  thus  forming  a  gigantic  cross,  and  at 
their  point  of  intersection  threw  in  their  offerings  of 
gold,  emeralds,  and  precious  oils.1  The  arms  of  the 
cross  were  designed  to  point  to  the  cardinal  points  and 
represent  the  four  winds,  the  rain  bringers.  To  con- 
firm this  explanation,  let  us  have  recourse  to  the  sim- 
pler ceremonies  of  the  less  cultivated  tribes,  and  see 
the  transparent  meaning  of  the  symbol  as  they  em- 
ployed it. 

When  the  rain  maker  of  the  Lenni  Lenape  would 
exert  his  power,  he  retired  to  some  secluded  spot  and 
drew  upon  the  earth  the  figure  of  a  cross,  its  arms  to- 
wards the  cardinal  points,  placed  upon  it  a  piece  of 
tobacco,  a  gourd,  a  bit  of  some  red  stuff,  and  commenced 
to  cry  aloud  to  the  spirits  of  the  rains.2  The  Blackfeet 
were  accustomed  to  arrange  the  glacial  boulders  on  the 
prairies  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  in  honor,  they  said,  of 
Natose,  "  the  Old  Man  who  sends  the  winds  "  (Gen.  J. 
M.  Brown).  The  Creeks  at  the  festival  of  the  Busk, 
celebrated,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  four  winds,  and  ac- 
cording to  their  legends  instituted  by  them,  commenced 
with  making  the  new  fire.  The  manner  of  this  was 

cios,  Des.  dt,  la  Prov.  de  Guatemala,  p.  29  ;  Cogolludo,  Hist,  de  Yuea- 
than,  liv.  iv.  cap.  ix.  ;  Villagutierre  Sotomayor,  Hist,  de  el  Itza  y 
de  el  Lacandon,  lib.  iii.  cap.  8 ;  and  many  others  might  be  men- 
tioned. In  some  instances  the  "  mace  "  of  the  Mexican  divinities 
is  the  atlati,  or  throwing  stick,  as  has  been  clearly  shown  by  Mrs. 
Zelia  Nuttall  (Peabody  Museum  Papers,  vol.  i.  No.  3).  The  cross 
also  appears  in  this  connection. 

1  E.  Eestrepo,  Los  Aborigenes  de  Colombia,  p.  45,  after  Simon  and 
Acosta. 

2  Loskiel,  Oes.  der  Miss,  der  evang.  Srilder,  p.  60. 


116  THE  SACKED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

"  to  place  four  logs  in  the  centre  of  the  square,  end  to 
end,  forming  a  cross,  the  outer  ends  pointing  to  the 
cardinal  points ;  in  the  centre  of  the  cross  the  new  fire 
is  made."1  This  was  the  precise  form  of  the  cross 
which,  according  to  Las  Casas,  was  an  object  of  worship 
on  the  coast  of  South  America,  near  Cumana,  at  and 
long  before  the  arrival  of  the  Christians.1 

As  the  emblem  of  the  winds  who  dispense  the  fer- 
tilizing showers  it  is  emphatically  the  tree  of  our  life, 
our  subsistence,  and  our  health.  It  never  had  any 
other  meaning  in  America,  and  if,  as  has  been  said,3  the 
tombs  of  the  Mexicans  were  cruciform,  it  was  perhaps 
with  reference  to  a  resurrection  and  a  future  life  as  por- 
trayed under  this  symbol,  indicating  that  the  buried 
body  would  rise  by  the  action  of  the  four  spirits  of  the 
world,  as  the  buried  seed  takes  on  a  new  existence 
when  watered  by  the  vernal  showers.  It  frequently 
recurs  in  the  ancient  Egyptian  writings,  where  it  is  in- 

1  Hawkins,   Sketch  of  the   Creek    Country,   p.    75.     Lapham  and 
Pidgeon  mention  that  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin  many  low  mounds 
are  found  in  the  form  of  a  cross  with  the  arms  directed  to  the  car- 
dinal points.      They  contain  no  remains.     Were  they  not  altars 
built  to  the  Four  Winds?    In  the  mythology  of  the  Dakotas,  who 
inhabited  that  region,  the  winds  were  always  conceived  as  birds, 
and  for  the  cross  they  have  a  native  name  literally  signifying  ''the 
musquito  hawk  spread  out ' '  (Kiggs,  Diet,  of  the  Dakota,  s.  v. ) .    Its 
Maya  name  is  vahom  che,  the  tree  erected  or  set  up,  the  adjective 
being  drawn  from  the  military  language  and  implying  as  a  de- 
fence or  protection,  as  the  warrior  lifts  his  lance  or  shield  (Landa, 
Mel.  de  las  Cosas  de  Yucatan,  p.  65).     The  Siouan  gentes  are  placed 
in  the  tribal  circle  with  reference  to  the  form  of  the  Greek  cross 
(Dorsey,  Siouan  Cults,  chap.  vi.). 

2  Historia  Apologetica,  MS.,  cap.  125.     The  figure  he  gives  of  it 
is  that  of  the  Greek  cross,  two  lines  of  equal  length  meeting  in 
their  centres  at  right  angles.     The  natives  of  Cumana  were  Caribs. 

8  Squier,  The  Serpent  Symbol  in  America,  p.  98. 


TEE  TREE  OF  LIFE.  117 

terpreted  life;  doubtless,  could  we  trace  the  hieroglyph 
to  its  source,  it  would  likewise  prove  to  be  derived 
from  the  four  winds.  Just  as  these  dwellers  in  the  Nile 
valley  placed  the  entrails  of  the  mummy  in  the  four 
Canopic  vases  around  the  body,  so  did  the  Mayas,  ar- 
ranging the  jars  in  groups  of  four,  and  called  them 
bacdbs,  from  the  four  gods  of  the  rain  or  the  cardinal 
points.1 

Often  derived  from  the  cross,  always  associated  with 
the  same  ideas  of  life  and  vitality,  the  TREE  figures 
conspicuously  in  American  mythology,  and  occupied  a 
prominent  position  in  the  ceremonies  and  rites  of  the 
native  religions.  In  the  cosmical  pictographs  of  the 
Mayas  and  Nahuas  it  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  uni- 
verse, its  branches  rise  to  the  fertilizing  rain  clouds, 
while  its  trunk  is  rooted  in  the  vase  of  primeval  waters 
from  which  all  things  took  their  origin.'  In  the  Mexi- 
can sacred  formulas  the  tree  was  prayed  to  as  tola, 
"Our  Father,"  and  was  called  god  of  the  waters  and 
the  green  foliage.3  Did  the  ancient  Quiches  desire  off- 
spring, they  sought  some  spot  where  a  tree  overhung 
a  fountain,  and  to  it  they  addressed  their  prayers  and 
offered  their  sacrifices.*  To  this  day  the  green  tree, 
the  vax  che,  usually  the  ceiba,  is  an  object  of  reverence 
near  the  native  hamlets  of  Central  America.  It  is  the 
sign  of  life,  and  its  honor  is  a  survival  of  that  of  the 
primal  tree  which  their  ancestors  adored. 

It  would  be  easy  to  accumulate  from  all  parts  of 

1  H.  de  Charencey,  Le  Mythe  de  Votan,  p.  39. 

2  Brinton,  Primer  of  Mayan  Hieroglyphics,  pp.  49,  101. 

3  Diego  Duran,  Historia  de  los  Indios,  T.  ii.  p.  240. 

*  F.  Ximenes,  Origen  de  los  Indios,  p.  189.  On  the  cross  as  an 
art-form  conventionalized  from  the  tree,  see  the  remarks  of  W.  H. 
Holmes  in  2d  An.  Eep.  Bur.  of  Ethnol.,  pp.  270,  271. 


118  THE  SACRED  NUMBER,  ITS  ORIGIN. 

America  the  evidence  of  the  worship  of  trees  as  an 
emblem  of  life,  and  their  connection  with  the  waters, 
the  four  winds  and  the  cross.  In  the  picturesque 
myths  of  the  Yurucares  of  Bolivia,  when  all  men  had 
been  destroyed  by  fire,  the  god  Tiri  opened  a  tree,  and 
from  it  allowed  various  tribes  to  emerge,  until  he 
deemed  the  earth  sufficiently  peopled,  when  he  closed 
it.  But  the  men  were  weak  and  ignorant.  Then  a 
virgin  prayed  to  U16,  the  most  beautiful  tree  of  the 
forest,  and  he  came  forth  and  embraced  her,  engender- 
ing the  culture  hero  who  taught  them  the  arts  of  life.1 

Everywhere  we  find  traces  of  the  world-tree,  the 
primal  growth  which  lifted  man  from  his  dark  ante- 
rior dwelling  place,  or  from  the  earth  to  heaven.  The 
Mbocobis  of  Paraguay  tell  of  such  a  one  which  existed 
in  the  good  old  times,  and  by  which  the  souls  of  the 
departed  could  climb  commodiously  to  the  delightful 
streams  of  Paradise ;  but  a  wicked  old  woman,  angered 
at  her  ill  luck  in  fishing  in  the  celestial  waters,  changed 
herself  into  a  rat  and  enviously  gnawed  the  roots  of 
the  tree,  so  that  it  fell  and  could  no  more  be  raised.2 

It  is  not  necessary  to  extend  such  references.  They 
indicate  that  the  sacredness  of  trees  was  connected 
with  the  mythical  concepts  I  have  been  considering, 
and  find  in  them  their  main  (though  not  only)  ex- 
planation. In  a  symbolic  or  ceremonial  form  we  see 
them  reappear  in  the  sacred  poles  of  so  many  tribes 
the  sticks  or  stakes  which  surrounded  the  temples  and 
the  allied  objects  which  stood  for  the  ideas  of  life.* 

1  A.  D'Orbigny,  L'  Homme  Americain,  ii.  p.  365. 

*  The  tree  had  a  special  name,  nattiagdigua.  Guevara,  Hist,  del 
Paraguay,  cap.  xiv. 

8  The  Iroquois  and  Algonkins  regarded  the  tree  as  an  emblem 
of  peace,  and  planted  one  at  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  (Smith, 


UNIVERSAL  SYMBOLS.  119 

"While  thus  recognizing  the  origin  of  these  wide- 
spread symbols  in  the  structure  and  necessary  relations 
of  the  human  hody,  therefore  disowning  the  mysticism 
that  Joseph  de  Maistre  and  his  disciples  have  advo- 
cated, let  us  on  the  other  hand  be  equally  on  our  guard 
against  accepting  the  material  facts  which  underlie  these 
beliefs  as  their  deepest  foundation  and  their  exhaustive 
explanation.  That  were  but  withered  fruit  for  our  la- 
bors, and  it  might  well  be  asked,  where  is  here  the 
divine  idea  said  to  be  dimly  prefigured  in  mythology  ? 

The  universal  belief  in  the  sacredness  of  numbers 
is  an  instinctive  perception  of  a  fundamental  fact,  a 
recognition  by  the  intellect  of  the  method  of  its  own 
action.  The  laws  of  chemical  combination,  of  the 
various  modes  of  motion,  of  all  organic  growth,  show 
that  simple  numerical  relations  govern  all  the  proper- 
ties and  are  inherent  to  the  very  constitution  of  matter. 
In  view  of  such  facts  is  it  presumptuous  to  predict 
that  experiment  itself  will  prove  the  truth  of  Kepler's 
beautiful  saying :  "  The  universe  is  a  harmonious 
whole,  the  soul  of  which  is  God ;  numbers,  figures,  the 
stars,  all  nature,  indeed,  are  in  unison  with  the  mys- 
teries of  religion  ?' ' 

Hist.  New  York,  pp.  63,  64,  79)  ;  one  was  allowed  to  grow  in  their 
villages  to  indicate  tranquillity  (Hazard,  Reg.  ofPenna.,  v.  p.  131). 
The  Abenakis  honored  a  particular  tree,  and  suspended  offerings 
on  its  branches  (Lafitau).  The  "sacred  pole"  of  the  Omahas 
typified  the  cosmic  tree,  the  centre  of  the  four  winds  and  the  home 
of  the  thunder  bird.  (See  Alice  C.  Fletcher  in  American  Anti- 
quarian, September,  1895,  and  Proc.  Am.  Assoe.  Adv.  Science,  1895, 
p.  278.)  It  was  the  sacred  or  "mystery  tree"  (Dorsey,  Siouan 
Oidt,  pp.  390,  455).  The  custom  of  tree  burial,  or  placing  the  corpse 
in  trees,  no  doubt  in  some  instances  bore  a  mythical  relation  to 
placing  them  in  the  tree  of  life.  It  was  quite  common  among  the 
western  tribes. 


120     THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  SYMBOLS   OF   THE  BIRD   AND   THE   SERPENT. 

Relations  of  man  to  the  lower  animals.  —  Two  of  these,  the  BIRD 
and  the  SERPENT,  chosen  as  symbols  beyond  all  others.  —  The 
Bird  throughout  America  the  symbol  of  the  Clouds  and  Winds.— 
Meaning  of  certain  species.  —  The  symbolic  meaning  of  the  Ser- 
pent derived  from  its  mode  of  locomotion,  its  poisonous  bite,  and 
its  power  of  charming.  —  Usually  the  symbol  of  the  Lightning 
and  the  Waters.  —  The  Kattlesnake  the  symbolic  species  in 
America.  —  The  war  charm.  —  The  god  of  riches.  —  Both  symbols 
devoid  of  moral  significance. 


rPHOSE  stories  which  the  Germans  call  Thierfabeln, 
wherein  the  actors  are  different  kinds  of  brutes, 
seem  to  have  a  particular  relish  for  children  and  un- 
cultivated nations.  Who  cannot  recall  with  what  de- 
light he  nourished  his  childish  fancy  on  the  pranks  of 
Reynard  the  Fox,  or  the  tragic  adventures  of  Little 
Red  Riding  Hood  and  the  Wolf?  Every  nation  has  a 
congeries  of  such  tales,  and  it  is  curious  to  mark  how 
the  same  animal  reappears  with  the  same  imputed  phy- 
siognomy in  so  many  of  them.  The  fox  is  always 
cunning,  the  wolf  ravenous,  the  owl  gloomy  and  wise, 
the  ass  foolish. 

The  question  has  been  raised  whether  such  traits 
were  at  first  actually  ascribed  to  animals,  or  whether 
their  introduction  in  story  was  intended  merely  as  an 
agreeable  figure  of  speech  for  classes  of  men.  We  can- 
not doubt  but  that  the  former  was  the  case.  Going  back 
to  the  dawn  of  civilization,  we  find  these  relations  not 


ANIMAL  WORSHIP.  121 

as  amusing  fictions,  but  as  myths,  embodying  religious 
tenets,  and  the  brute  heroes  held  up  as  the  ancestors 
of  mankind,  even  as  rightful  claimants  of  man's  prayers 
and  praises. 

The  effort  has  been  made  to  trace  early  faiths  to  an 
animal  worship  exclusively,  but  it  has  failed,  as  must 
all  such  narrow  theories.  The  idea  of  the  divine  ac- 
knowledges no  single  source  in  nature.  The  infinite 
power  imminent  in  all  phenomena  expresses  itself  to 
man  in  all.  The  form  of  animal  worship  called  "  to- 
temism  "  prevailed  extensively  among  the  American 
Indians,  as  it  did  also  in  Australia.  The  "  totem  "  was 
the  mythical  animal  after  whom  the  clan  or  gens  was 
named,  and  from  which  in  the  mythic  philosophy  it 
was  genealogically  descended.  In  many  legends  these 
animal  gods  created  and  directed  in  their  course  the 
heavenly  bodies,  and  established  the  institutions  of 
human  society.1 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  totemic  badge  had  a 
political  or  social  rather  than  a  distinctly  religious  sig- 
nificance. It  was  not  always  an  animal,  as  we  find 
snow,  ice  and  water  totems  as  well.2  Nevertheless,  there 
are  instances,  and  abundance  of  them,  where  supersti- 
tious honors  were  paid  directly  to  inferior  animals.  The 
Lower  Creeks,  like  the  ancient  Egyptians,  venerated  the 
alligator,  and  never  destroyed  one.3  The  jaguar  was 

i  J.  W.  Powell,  Mythology  of  the  North  American  Indians,  pp.  39, 
40.  The  word  totem  is  from  the  Algonkin  verbal  root  ot  or  od,  to 
belong  to  ;  hence  ote,  family,  nind  otem,  my  family,  etc.  Thavenet 
believed  it  related  to  teh  or  oteh,  heart,  life,  soul.  Cuoq,  Lexique 
Algonquine,  p.  312,  and  J.  H.Trumbull,  in  Am.  Phttol.  Assoc.,  1872, 
p.  23.  The  literature  about  totemism  is  so  extended  that  I  need 
not  quote  titles. 

»  C.  S.  Wake,  in  the  American  Antiquarian,  1889,  p.  354. 

3  B.  Eoman,  Nat.  and  Civ.  Hist,  of  Florida,  p.  101. 


122     THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

worshipped  by  the  Moxos  of  Bolivia,  and  they  ap- 
pointed as  priests  those  who  had  escaped  from  its 
claws.1  The  extensive  and  mysterious  doctrine  of  Na- 
gualism  in  Mexico  and  Central  America  is  based  on 
the  belief  that  each  individual  has  a  beast  as  a  patron 
and  protector,  and  an  adept  can  assume  its  form  at  will.2 

Man,  the  paragon  of  animals,  praying  to  the  beast, 
is  a  spectacle  so  humiliating  that  it  prompts  us  to  seek 
the  explanation  of  it  least  degrading  to  the  dignity  of 
our  race.  We  must  remember  that  as  a  hunter  the 
primitive  man  was  always  matched  against  the  wild 
creatures  of  the  woods,  so  superior  to  him  in  their 
dumb  certainty  of  instinct,  their  swift  motion,  their 
muscular  force,  their  permanent  and  sufficient  cloth- 
ing. Their  ways  were  guided  by  a  wit  beyond  his 
divination,  and  they  gained  a  living  with  little  toil  or 
trouble.  They  did  not  mind  the  darkness  so  terrible 
to  him,  but  through  the  night  called  one  to  the  other 
in  a  tongue  whose  meaning  he  could  not  fathom,  but 
which,  he  doubted  not,  was  as  full  of  purport  as  his 
own. 

He  did  not  recognize  in  himself  those  god-like  qual- 
ities destined  to  endow  him  with  the  royalty  of  the 
world,  while  far  more  clearly  than  we  do  he  saw  the 
sly  and  strange  faculties  of  his  antagonists.  They 
were  to  him,  therefore,  not  inferiors,  but  equals — even 
superiors.  He  doubted  not  that  once  upon  a  time  he 
had  possessed  their  instinct,  they  his  language,  but 
that  some  necromantic  spell  had  been  flung  on  them 
both  to  keep  them  asunder.  None  but  a  potent  sor- 
cerer could  break  this  charm,  but  such  an  one  could 

1  A.  D'Orbigny,  L'Homme  Americain,  ii.  p.  235. 

2  D.  G.  Brinton,  Nagualism,  p.  59  (Philadelphia,  1894). 


THE  BIRD.  123 

understand  the  chants  of  birds  and  the  howls  of 
savage  beasts,  and  on  occasion  transform  himself  into 
one  or  another  animal,  and  course  the  forest,  the  air, 
or  the  waters,  as  he  saw  fit.  Therefore,  it  was  not  the 
beast  that  he  worshipped,  but  that  share  of  the  omni- 
present deity  which  he  thought  he  perceived  under  its 
form.1 

Beyond  all  others,  two  subdivisions  of  the  animal 
kingdom  have  so  riveted  the  attention  of  men  by  their 
unusual  powers,  and  enter  so  frequently  into  the  myths 
of  every  nation  of  the  globe,  that  a  right  understanding 
of  their  symbolic  value  is  an  essential  preliminary  to 
the  discussion  of  the  divine  legends.  They  are  the 
BIRD  and  the  SERPENT.  We  shall  not  go  amiss  if  we 
seek  the  reasons  of  their  pre-eminence  in  the  facility 
with  which  their  peculiarities  offered  sensuous  images 
under  which  to  convey  the  idea  of  divinity,  ever  pres- 
ent in  the  soul  of  man,  ever  striving  at  articulate 
expression. 

The  bird  has  the  incomprehensible  power  of  flight ; 
it  floats  in  the  atmosphere,  it  rides  on  the  winds,  it 
soars  toward  heaven  where  dwell  the  gods  ;  its  plumage 
is  stained  with  the  hues  of  the  rainbow  and  the  sunset ; 
its  song  was  man's  first  hint  of  music ;  it  spurns  the 
clods  that  impede  his  footsteps,  and  flies  proudly  over 
the  mountains  and  moors  where  he  toils  wearily  along. 
He  sees  no  more  enviable  creature ;  he  conceives  the 
gods  and  angels  must  also  have  wings;  and  pleases 

1  That  these  were  the  real  views  entertained  by  the  Indians  in 
regard  to  the  brute  creation,  see  Heckewelder,  Ace.  of  the  Ind. 
Nations,  p.  247 ;  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  iii.  p.  520.  As  von  den 
Steinen  accurately  says  : — "  Wir  miissen  uns  die  Grenzen  zwischen 
Mensch  und  Tier  vollstandig  wegdenken."  Naturvolker  Zentral 
Braziliens,  p.  351  (1894). 


124     THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

himself  with  the  fancy  that  he,  too,  some  day  will 
shake  off  this  coil  of  clay,  and  rise  on  pinions  to  the 
heavenly  mansions.  All  living  beings,  say  the  Eski- 
mos, have  the  faculty  of  soul  (tarrak\  but  especially 
the  birds.1 

As  messengers  from  the  upper  world  and  interpreters 
of  its  decrees,  the  flight  and  the  note  of  birds  have 
ever  been  anxiously  observed  as  omens  of  grave  import. 
"  There  is  one  bird  especially,"  remarks  the  traveller 
Coreal,  of  the  natives  of  Brazil,  "  which  they  regard  as 
of  good  augury.  Its  mournful  chant  is  heard  rather 
by  night  than  day.  The  savages  say  it  is  sent  by  their 
deceased  friends  to  bring  them  news  from  the  other 
world,  and  to  encourage  them  against  their  enemies."2 
In  Peru  and  in  Mexico  there  was  a  College  of  Augurs, 
corresponding  in  purpose  to  the  auspices  of  ancient 
Rome,  who  practised  no  other  means  of  divination 
than  watching  the  course  and  pretending  to  interpret 
the  songs  of  fowls. 

So  natural  and  so  general  is  such  a  superstition,  and 
so  widespread  is  the  respect  it  still  obtains  in  civilized 
and  Christian  lands,  that  it  is  not  worth  while  to  sum- 
mon witnesses  to  show  that  it  prevailed  universally 
among  the  red  race  also.  What  imprinted  it  with  re- 
doubled force  on  their  imagination  was  the  common 
belief  that  birds  were  not  only  divine  nuncios,  but  the 
visible  spirits  of  their  departed  friends.  The  Powhatans 
held  that  a  certain  small  wood  bird  received  the  souls 
of  their  princes  at  death,  and  they  refrained  religiously 
from  doing  it  harm;5  while  the  Aztecs  and  various 

1  Egede,  Nachrichten  con  Gronland,  p.  156. 

a   Voiages  aux  Indes  Occidenlcdes,  pt.  ii,  p.  203  (Amst.  1722). 

1  Beverly,  Hist,  de  la  Virginie,  liv.  iii.  chap.  viii. 


BIRDS  AS  WINDS.  125 

other  nations  thought  that  all  good  people,  as  a  reward 
of  merit,  were  metamorphosed  at  the  close  of  life  into 
feathered  songsters  of  the  grove,  and  in  this  form  passed 
a  certain  term  in  the  umbrageous  bowers  of  Paradise. 

But  the  usual  meaning  of  the  bird  as  a  symbol  looks 
to  a  different  analogy — to  that  which  appears  in  such 
familiar  expressions  as  "  the  wings  of  the  wind,"  "  the 
flying  clouds."  Like  the  wind,  the  bird  sweeps  through 
the  aerial  spaces,  sings  in  the  forest,  and  rustles  on  its 
course ;  like  the  cloud,  it  floats  in  mid-air  and  casts  its 
shadow  on  the  earth ;  like  the  lightning,  it  darts  from 
heaven  to  earth  to  strike  its  unsuspecting  prey. 

These  tropes  were  truths  to  savage  nations,  and  led 
on  by  that  law  of  language  which  forced  them  to  con- 
ceive everything  as  animate  or  inanimate,  itself  the 
product  of  a  deeper  law  of  thought  which  urges  us  to 
ascribe  life  to  whatever  has  motion,  they  found  no  ani- 
mal so  appropriate  for  their  purpose  here  as  the  bird. 
Therefore  the  Algonkins  say  that  birds  always  make 
the  winds,  that  they  create  the  water  spouts,  and  that 
the  clouds  are  the  spreading  and  agitation  of  their 
wings  j1  the  Navajos,  that  at  each  cardinal  point  stands 
a  white  swan,  who  is  the  spirit  of  the  blasts  which  blow 
from  its  dwelling ;  and  the  Dakotas,  that  in  the  west  is 
the  house  of  the  Wakinyan,  the  Flyers,  the  breezes  that 
send  the  storms. 

So,  also,  they  frequently  explain  the  thunder  as 
the  sound  of  the  cloud-bird  flapping  his  wings,  and 
the  lightning  as  the  fire  that  flashes  from  his  tracks, 
like  the  sparks  which  the  buffalo  scatters  when  he 
scours  over  a  stony  plain.2  The  thunder  cloud  was 

1  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  v.  p.  420. 

2  Mrs.  Eastman,  Legends  of  the  Siouoc,  p.  191  (New  York,  1849). 
This  is  a  trustworthy  and  meritorious  book,  which  can  be  said  of 


126      THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

also  a  bird  to  the  Caribs,  and  they  imagined  it  pro- 
duced the  lightning  in  true  Carib  fashion  by  blow- 
ing it  through  a  hollow  reed,  just  as  they  to  this  day 
hurl  their  poisoned  darts.1  Most  of  the  natives  of  the 
northwest  coast  explain  the  thunder  as  the  flapping  of 
the  wings  of  a  giant  bird,  the  lightning  as  the  flash  of 
his  eye.  Tupis,  Iroquois,  Athapascas,  for  certain,  per- 
haps all  the  families  of  the  red  race,  were  the  subject 
pursued,  partook  of  this  persuasion ;  among  them  all  it 
would  probably  be  found  that  the  same  figures  of  speech 
were  used  in  comparing  clouds  and  winds  with  the 
feathered  species  as  among  us,  with,  however,  this  most 
significant  difference,  that  whereas  among  us  they  are 
figures  and  nothing  more,  to  them  they  expressed  what 
they  considered  literal  facts. 

How  important  a  symbol  did  they  thus  become! 
For  the  winds,  the  clouds,  producing  the  thunder  and 
the  changes  that  take  place  in  the  ever-shifting  pano- 
rama of  the  sky,  the  rain  bringers,  lords  of  the  seasons, 
and  not  this  only,  but  the  primary  type  of  the  soul, 
the  life,  the  breath  of  man  and  the  world,  these  in  their 
role  in  mythology  are  second  to  nothing.  Therefore 
as  the  symbol  of  these  august  powers,  as  messenger 
of  the  gods,  and  as  the  embodiment  of  departed  spirits, 
no  one  will  be  surprised  if  they  find  the  bird  figure  most 
prominently  in  the  myths  of  the  red  race. 

Sometimes  some  particular  species  seems  to  have 
been  chosen  as  most  befitting  these  dignified  attributes. 
No  citizen  of  the  United  States  will  be  apt  to  assert  that 

very  few  of  the  older  collections  of  Indian  traditions.  They  were 
collected  during  a  residence  of  seven  years  in  our  northwestern 
territories,  and  are  usually  verbally  faithful  to  the  native  narra- 
tions. 

1  De  la  Borde,  Religion  des  Caraibes,  p.  7  (Paris,  1674). 


THE  EAGLE.  127 

their  instinct  led  the  indigenes  of  our  territory  astray 
when  they  chose  with  nigh  unanimous  consent  the 
great  American  eagle  as  that  fowl  beyond  all  others 
proper  to  typify  the  supreme  control  and  the  most  ad- 
mirable qualities.  Its  feathers  composed  the  war  flag 
of  the  Creeks,  and  its  images  carved  in  wood  or  its 
stuffed  skin  surmounted  their  council  lodges  (Bar- 
tram)  ;  none  but  an  approved  warrior  dared  wear  it 
among  the  Cherokees  (Timberlake)  ;  and  the  Dakotas 
allowed  such  an  honor  only  to  him  who  had  first 
touched  the  corpse  of  the  common  foe  (De  Smet). 

The  Natchez  and  Akanzas  seem  to  have  paid  it  even 
religious  honors,  and  to  have  installed  it  in  their  most 
sacred  shrines  (Sieur  de  Tonty,  Du  Pratz) ;  and  very 
clearly  it  was  not  so  much  for  ornament  as  for  a  mark 
of  dignity  and  a  recognized  sign  of  worth  that  its 
plumes  were  so  highly  prized. 

The  natives  of  Zuni,  in  New  Mexico,  employed  four 
of  its  feathers  to  represent  the  four  winds  in  their  in- 
vocations for  rain  (Whipple,  Gushing),  and  probably  it 
was  the  eagle  which  a  tribe  in  upper  California  (the  Acag- 
chemem)  worshipped  under  the  name  Panes.  Father 
Geronimo  Boscana  describes  it  as  a  species  of  vulture, 
and  relates  that  one  of  them  was  immolated  yearly, 
with  solemn  ceremony,  in  the  temple  of  each  village. 
Not  a  drop  of  blood  was  spilled,  and  the  body  burned. 
Yet  with  an  amount  of  faith  that  staggered  even  the 
Romanist,  the  natives  maintained  and  believed  that  it 
was  the  same  individual  bird  they  sacrificed  each  year ; 
more  than  this,  that  the  same  bird  was  slain  by  each 
of  the  villages.1 

1  Ace.  of  the  Inds.  of  California,  ch.  ix.  Eng.  trans,  by  Eobinson 
(New  York,  1847) .  The  Acagchemem  were  a  branch  of  the  Netela 


128      THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  TEE  SERPENT, 

The  owl  was  regarded  by  Nahuas,  Quiches,  Mayas, 
Peruvians,  Araucanians,  and  Algonkins  as  sacred  to  the 
lord  of  the  dead.  "  The  Owl "  was  one  of  the  names 
of  the  Mexican  Pluto,  whose  realm  was  in  the  north,1 
and  the  wind  from  that  quarter  was  supposed  by  the 
Chipeways  to  be  made  by  the  owl,  as  the  south  by  the 
butterfly.2  As  the  bird  of  night,  it  was  the  fit  emissary 
of  him  who  rules  the  darkness  of  the  grave. 

Something  in  the  looks  of  the  creature  as  it  sapiently 
stares  and  blinks  in  the  light,  or  perhaps  that  it  works 
while  others  sleep,  got  for  it  the  character  of  wisdom. 
So  the  Creek  priests  carried  with  them  as  the  badge  of 
their  learned  profession  the  stuffed  skin  of  one  of  these 
birds,  thus  modestly  hinting  their  erudite  turn  of  mind.3 
The  Arickarees  placed  one  above  the  "  medicine  stone  " 
in  their  council  lodge,  and  the  culture  hero  of  the  Mon- 
quis  of  California  was  represented,  like  Pallas  Athene, 
having  one  as  his  inseparable  companion  (Venegas). 

As  the  associate  of  the  god  of  light  and  air,  and  as 
the  antithesis  therefore  of  the  owl,  the  Nahuas  rever- 
enced a  bird  called  quetzal,  the  beautiful  Trogon  splendens- 
Its  plumage  is  of  a  bright  green  hue,  and  was  prized 

tribe  of  Shoshonees  who  dwelt  near  the  mission  San  Juan  Capis- 
trano  (see  Buschmann,  Spuren  der  Aztek.  Sprache,  etc.,  p.  548; 
Brinton,  The  American  Race,  p.  123). 

1  Called  in  the  Aztec  tongue  Tecolott,  night  owl ;  literally,  the 
stone  scorpion.     The  transfer  was  mythological.    The  Christians 
prefixed  to  this  word  tlaca,  man,  and  thus  formed  a  name  for  Sa- 
tan, which  Prescott  and  others  have  translated  "rational  owl." 
No  such  deity  existed  in  ancient  Anahuac  (see  Buschmann,  Die 
Voelker  und  Sprachen Neu  Mexico's,  p.  262). 

2  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  v.  p.  420. 

8  William  Bartram,  Travels,  p.  504  Columbus  found  the  natives 
of  the  Antilles  wearing  tunics  with  figures  of  these  birds  embroi- 
dered upon  them.  Prescott,  Conq.  of  Mexico,  i.  p.  58,  note. 


THE  DOVE.  129 

extravagantly  as  a  decoration.  It  was  one  of  the  sym- 
bols and  part  of  the  name  of  Quetzalcoatl,  their  mythi- 
cal civilizer,  and  the  prince  of  all  sorts  of  singing  birds, 
myriads  of  whom  were  fabled  to  accompany  him  on 
his  journeys. 

The  tender  and  hallowed  associations  that  have  so 
widely  shielded  the  dove  from  harm,  which  for  instance 
Xenophon  mentions  among  the  ancient  Persians,  were 
not  altogether  unknown  to  the  tribes  of  the  New  World. 
Neither  the  Hurons  nor  the  Mandans  would  kill  them, 
for  they  believed  they  were  inhabited  by  the  souls  of 
the  departed,1  and  it  is  said,  but  on  less  satisfactory 
authority,  that  they  enjoyed  similar  immunity  among 
the  Mexicans.  Their  soft  and  plaintive  note  and  sober 
russet  hue  widely  enlisted  the  sympathy  of  man,  and 
linked  them  with  his  more  tender  feelings. 

"As  wise  as  the  serpent,  as  harmless  as  the  dove,"  is 
an  antithesis  that  might  pass  current  in  any  human 
language.  They  are  the  emblems  of  complementary, 
often  contrasted  qualities.  Of  all  animals,  the  serpent 
is  the  most  mysterious.  No  wonder  it  possessed  the 
fancy  of  the  observant  child  of  nature.  Alone  of  crea- 
tures it  swiftly  progresses  without  feet,  fins,  or  wings. 
"  There  be  three  things  which  are  too  wonderful  for  me, 
yea,  four  which  I  know  not,"  said  wise  King  Solomon; 
and  the  chief  of  them  were,  "  the  way  of  an  eagle  in 
the  air,  the  way  of  a  serpent  upon  a  rock." 

Its  sinuous  course  is  like  to  nothing  so  much  as  that 
of  a  winding  river,  which  therefore  we  often  call  ser- 
pentine. The  name  Serpentine  is  borne  by  an  English 
stream ;  a  river  in  British  America  is  called  the  Ser- 

i  Ed.  de  la,  Nouv.  France,  An.  1636,  ch.  ix.  Catlin,  Letters  and 
Notes,  Lett.  22. 


130      THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

pent ;  and  in  Arcadia  the  Greeks  had  the  Ophis.  So 
with  the  Indians.  Kennebec,  a  stream  in  Maine, 
in  the  Algonkin  means  snake,  and  Antietam,  the  creek 
in  Maryland  of  tragic  celebrity,  in  an  Iroquois  dialect 
has  the  same  significance. 

How  easily  would  savages,  construing  the  figure  lit- 
erally, make  the  serpent  a  river  or  water  god  !  Many 
species  being  amphibious  would  confirm  the  idea.  A 
lake  watered  by  innumerable  tortuous  rills  wriggling 
into  it,  is  well  calculated  for  the  fabled  abode  of  the 
king  of  the  snakes.  Thus  doubtless  it  happened  that 
both  Algonquins  and  Iroquois  had  a  myth  that  in  the 
great  lakes  dwelt  a  monster  serpent,  of  irascible  temper, 
who  unless  appeased  by  meet  offerings  raised  a  tempest 
or  broke  the  ice  beneath  the  feet  of  those  venturing  on 
his  domain,  and  swallowed  them  down.1 

The  rattlesnake  was  the  species  almost  exclusively 
honored  by  the  red  race.1  It  is  slow  to  attack,  but 
venomous  in  the  extreme,  and  possesses  the  power  of 
the  basilisk  to  attract  within  reach  of  its  spring  small 
birds  and  squirrels.  Probably  this  much  talked  of  fas- 
cination is  nothing  more  than  by  its  presence  near  their 

1  Ed.  de  la  Nouo.  France,  An.  1648,  p.  75 ;  Cusic,  Trad.  Hist,  of 
the  Six  Nations,  pt.  iii.  The  latter  is  the  work  of  a  native  Tuscarora 
chief.  It  is  republished  in  Schoolcraft's  Indian  Tribes,  and  is 
commented  on  by  Mrs.  E.  A.  Smith  in  her  Myths  of  the  Iroqwois,  in 
Eep.  Bur.  Ethnology  for  1880-81. 

*  In  North  American  art,  both  modern  and  that  from  the  mounds 
and  shell- heaps,  "the  rattlesnake  is  the  variety  almost  univer- 
sally represented. "  W.  H.  Holmes,  Art  in  Shell  of  the  Ancient  Ameri- 
cans in  2d  An.  Rep.  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  289.  In  the 
Mayan  manuscripts  and  carvings  it  is  the  only  serpent  represented 
as  a  symbol.  Its  name  in  their  language  is  Serpent  King,  ahau 
can,  and  to  it  are  assigned  the  four  sacred  colors.  Brinton,  Primer 
of  Mayan  Hieroglyphics,  p.  75. 


SNAKE-CHARMING.  131 

nests  to  incite  them  to  attack,  and  to  hazard  near  and 
nearer  approaches  to  their  enemy  in  hope  to  force  him 
to  retreat,  until  once  within  the  compass  of  his  fell 
swoop  they  fall  victims  to  their  temerity.  I  have  often 
watched  a  cat  act  thus.  Whatever  explanation  may  be 
received,  the  fact  cannot  be  questioned,  and  is  ever  at- 
tributed by  the  unreflecting  to  some  diabolic  spell  cast 
upon  them  by  the  animal. 

They  have  the  same  strange  susceptibility  to  the  in- 
fluence of  rhythmic  sounds  as  the  vipers,  in  which  lies 
the  secret  of  snake  charming.  Most  of  the  Indian  ma- 
gicians were  familiar  with  this  singularity.  They  em- 
ployed it  with  telling  effect  to  put  beyond  question 
their  intercourse  with  the  unseen  powers,  and  to  vindi- 
cate the  potency  of  their  own  guardian  spirits  who 
thus  enabled  them  to  handle  with  impunity  the  most 
venomous  of  reptiles.1 

The  well-known  antipathy  of  these  serpents  to  certain 
plants,  for  instance  the  hazel,  which  bound  around  the 
ankles  is  an  alleged  protection  against  their  attacks,  and 
perhaps  some  antidote  to  their  poison  used  by  the 
magicians,  led  to  their  frequent  introduction  in  relig- 
ious ceremonies.  Such  exhibitions  must  have  made  a 
profound  impression  on  the  spectators,  and  redounded 
in  a  corresponding  degree  to  the  glory  of  the  per- 
former. "  Who  is  a  manito  ?"  asks  the  mystic  meda 

1  For  example,  in  Brazil,  Miiller,  Amer.  Urrelig, ,  p.  277  ;  in  Yu- 
catan, Cogolludo,  Hist,  de  Yucathan,  lib.  iv.  cap.  4  ;  among  the 
Western  Algonkins,  Hennepin,  Decouvertedansl'Amer.  Septen. ,  chap. 
33.  The  literature  relating  to  serpent  worship  in  America  is  very 
rich.  I  mention  Squier,  The  Serpent  Symbol  in  America,  1851 ; 
Bourke,  The  Snake-dance  of  the  Moquis,  1884,  as  important.  Mrs. 
M.  C.  Stevenson,  J.  W.  Fewkes,  F.  C.  Hodge,  and  F.  H.  Gushing 
have  written  fully  on  the  snake  ceremonies  of  the  Pueblo  Indiana, 


132      THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

chant  of  the  Algonkins.  "  He,"  is  the  reply,  "  he  who 
walketh  with  a  serpent,  walking  on  the  ground,  he  is  a 
manito."1 

The  intimate  alliance  of  this  symbol  with  the  mys- 
teries of  religion,  the  darkest  riddles  of  the  Unknown, 
is  reflected  in  their  language,  and  also  in  that  of  their 
neighbors,  the  Dakotas,  in  both  of  which  the  same 
words  manito,  wakan,  which  express  the  supernatural 
in  its  broadest  sense,  are  also  used  as  terms  for  this 
species  of  animals!  This  strange  fact  is  not  without 
a  parallel,  for  in  both  Arabic  and  Hebrew,  the  word  for 
serpent  has  many  derivatives,  meaning  to  have  inter- 
course with  demoniac  powers,  to  practice  magic,  and  to 
consult  familiar  spirits.8 

The  pious  founder  of  the  Moravian  brotherhood,  the 
Count  of  Zinzendorf,  owed  his  life  on  one  occasion  to 
this  deeply  rooted  superstition.  He  was  visiting  a 
missionary  station  among  the  Shawnees,  in  the  Wyo- 
ming valley.  Recent  quarrels  with  the  whites  had 
unusually  irritated  this  unruly  folk,  and  they  resolved 
to  make  him  their  first  victim.  After  he  had  retired 
to  his  secluded  hut,  several  of  their  braves  crept  upon 
him,  and  cautiously  lifting  the  corner  of  the  lodge, 
peered  in.  The  venerable  man  was  seated  before  a 

1  Narrative  of  the  Captivity  and  Adventures  of  John  Tanner,  p.  356. 

2  See  Gallatin's    vocabularies  in  the    second    volume   of  the 
Trans.  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.  under  the  word  Snake.     In  Arabic  dzann  is 
serpent;    dzanan,  a  spirit,   a  soul,  or  the  heart.     So  in  Hebrew 
nachas,  serpent,   has  many  derivatives   signifying  to  hold  inter- 
course with  demons,  to  conjure,  a  magician,  etc.     See  Noldeke  in 
the  Zeitschrift  jur    Voelkcrpsychologie    und   Sprachenurissenschaft,    i. 
p.  413.     The  dialects  of  the  Algonquin  referred  to  are  the  Shaw- 
nee  and  the  Saukie.     For  similar  relations  in  Iroquois  and  Dakota 
see  Hewitt,  Amer.  Anthropologist,   1889,  p.   179 ;  Dorsey,   Siouan 
Cults,  p.  366. 


THE  LIFE-SYMBOL.  133 

little  fire,  a  volume  of  the  Scriptures  on  his  knees,  lost 
in  the  perusal  of  the  sacred  words.  While  they  gazed, 
a  huge  rattlesnake,  unnoticed  by  him,  trailed  across 
his  feet,  and  rolled  itself  into  a  coil  in  the  comfortable 
warmth  of  the  fire.  Immediately  the  would-be  mur- 
derers forsook  their  purpose  and  noiselessly  retired, 
convinced  that  this  was  indeed  a  man  of  God. 

A  more  unique  trait  than  any  of  these  is  its  habit  of 
casting  its  skin  every  spring,  thus  as  it  were  renewing 
its  life.  In  temperate  latitudes  the  rattlesnake,  like 
the  leaves  and  flowers,  retires  from  sight  during  the 
cold  season,  and  at  the  return  of  kindly  warmth  puts 
on  a  new  and  brilliant  coat.  Its  cast-off  skin  was 
carefully  collected  by  the  savages  and  stored  in  the 
medicine  bag,  as  possessing  remedial  powers  of  high 
excellence.  Itself  thus  immortal,  they  thought  it  could 
impart  its  vitality  to  them.  So  when  the  mother  was 
travailing  in  sore  pain,  and  the  danger  neared  that  the 
child  would  be  born  silent,  the  attending  women  has- 
tened to  catch  some  serpent  and  give  her  its  blood  to 
drink.1 

It  is  well  known  that  in  ancient  art  this  animal  was 
the  symbol  of  ^Esculapius,  and  to  this  day  Professor 
Agassiz  found  that  the  Maues  Indians,  who  live  between 
the  upper  Tapajos  and  Madeira  Rivers,  in  Brazil,  when- 
ever they  assign  a  form  to  any  "  remedio,"  give  it  that 
of  a  serpent.2  And  among  the  Lenape  Indians  their 
most  famous  doctors  were  called  "  Big  Snakes."1 

Probably  this  notion  that  it  was  annually  rejuve^ 
nated  led  to  its  adoption  as  a  symbol  of  Time  among 

1  Alexander  Henry,  Travels,  p.  117. 

2  Bost.  Med.  and  Surg.  Journal,  vol.  76,  p.  21. 

3  William   Nelson,   The  Indians  of  New  Jersey,  p.  53  (1894). 
After  Wassenaer. 


134      THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

the  Nahuas ;  or,  perchance,  as  they  reckoned  by  suns, 
and  the  figure  of  the  sun,  a  circle,  corresponds  to 
nothing  animate  but  a  serpent  with  its  tail  in  its  mouth, 
eating  itself,  as  it  were,  this  may  have  been  its  origin. 
Either  of  these  is  more  likely  than  that  the  symbol 
arose  from  the  recondite  reflection  that  time  is  "  never 
ending,  still  beginning,  still  creating,  still  destroying," 
as  has  been  suggested. 

A  natural  object  with  so  many  strange  traits  as  I 
have  mentioned  would  necessarily  as  a  symbol  be  as- 
sociated with  various  conceptions  in  primitive  religions ; 
therefore  it  would  be  a  manifest  error  to  explain  the 
serpent  symbol  by  any  one  interpretation.  But  that  it 
has  one  which  is  prominent  beyond  others  in  America 
is  unquestionable.  It  is  the  same  which  a  number  of 
years  ago  the  German  writer  Schwartz  proved  to  be  so 
prevalent  in  German  and  Greek  mythology. 

He  demonstrated  that  a  meaning  which  recurs  very 
frequently  in  this  emblem  is  the  lightning;  a  meaning 
drawn  from  the  close  analogy  which  the  serpent  in  its 
motion,  its  quick  spring,  and  mortal  bite,  has  to  the  zig- 
zag course,  the  rapid  flash,  and  sudden  stroke  of  the 
electric  discharge.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  imagine 
that  by  this  resemblance  the  serpent  first  acquired  the 
veneration  of  men.  But  this  was  an  extravagance  not 
supported  by  more  thorough  research. 

He  has  further  shown  with  great  aptness  of  illustra- 
tion how,  by  its  dread  effects,  the  lightning,  the  heav- 
enly serpent,  became  the  god  of  terror  and  the  opponent 
of  such  heroes  as  Beowulf,  St.  George,  Thor,  Perseus, 
and  others,  mythical  representations  of  the  fearful  war 
of  the  elements  in  the  thunder  storm ;  how  from  its 
connection  with  the  advancing  summer  and  fertilizing 
showers  it  bore  the  opposite  character  of  the  deity  of 


THE  LIGHTNING-SERPENT.  135 

fruitfulness,  riches,  and  plenty ;  how,  as  occasionally 
kindling  the  woods  where  it  strikes,  it  was  associated 
with  the  myths  of  the  descent  of  fire  from  heaven,  and 
as  in  popular  imagination  where  it  falls  it  scatters  the 
thunderbolts  in  all  directions,  the  flint-stones  which 
flash  when  struck  were  supposed  to  be  these  frag- 
ments, and  was  one  source  of  the  stone  worship  so  fre- 
quent in  the  old  world ;  and  how,  finally,  the  prevalent 
myth  of  a  king  of  serpents  crowned  with  a  glittering 
stone  or  wearing  a  horn  is  but  another  type  of  the 
lightning.1 

Without  accepting  unreservedly  all  these  conclusions, 
I  shall  show  how  correct  they  are  in  the  main  when 
applied  to  the  myths  of  the  New  World,  and  thereby 
illustrate  how  the  red  race  is  of  one  blood  and  one  faith 
with  our  own  remote  ancestors  in  heathen  Europe  and 
Central  Asia. 

It  asks  no  elaborate  effort  of  the  imagination  to  liken 
the  lightning  to  a  serpent.  It  does  not  require  any 
remarkable  acuteness  to  guess  the  conundrum  of  Schil- 
ler:— 

"Unter  alien  Schlangen  1st  eine 

Auf  Erden  nicht  gezeugt, 
Mit  der  an  Schnelle  keine, 
An  Wuth  sich  keine  vergleicht." 

When  Father  Buteux  was  a  missionary  among  the 
Algonkins  in  1637,  he  asked  them  their  opinion  of  the 
nature  of  lightning.  "  It  is  an  immense  serpent,"  they 
replied,  "  which  the  Manito  is  vomiting  forth ;  you 
can  see  the  twists  and  folds  that  he  leaves  on  the 
trees  which  he  strikes ;  and  underneath  such  trees  we 

1  Schwarz,  Der  Ursprung  der  Mythologie  dargelegt  an  Griechischer 
und  Deutscher  Sage :  passim. 


136      THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

have  often  found  huge  snakes."  "  Here  is  a  novel  phi- 
losophy for  you  !"  exclaims  the  Father.1 

So  the  Shawnees  called  the  thunder  "  the  hissing  of 
the  great  snake  ;''2  and  Tlaloc,  the  Aztec  thunder  god, 
held  in  his  hand  a  serpent  of  gold  to  represent  the 
lightning.3  For  this  reason  the  Caribs  spoke  of  the  god 
of  the  thunder  storm  as  a  great  serpent  dwelling  in  the 
fruit  forests,*  and  in  the  Quiche  legends  other  names 
for  Hurakan,  the  hurricane  or  thunder-storm,  are  the 
Strong  Serpent,  He  who  hurls  below,  referring  to  the 
lightning.5 

Among  the  Hurons,  in  1648,  the  Jesuits  found  a 
legend  current  that  there  existed  somewhere  a  monster 
serpent  called  Onniont,  who  wore  on  his  head  a  horn 
that  pierced  rocks,  trees,  hills,  in  short  everything  he 
encountered.  Whoever  could  get  a  piece  of  this  horn 
was  a  fortunate  man,  for  it  was  a  sovereign  charm  and 
bringer  of  good  luck.  The  Hurons  confessed  that  none 
of  them  had  had  the  good  hap  to  find  the  monster  and 
break  his  horn,  nor  indeed  had  they  any  idea  of  his 
whereabouts ;  but  their  neighbors,  the  Algonkins,  fur- 
nished them  at  times  small  fragments  for  a  large  con- 
sideration.8 

Clearly  the  myth  had  been  taught  them  for  venal 
purposes  by  their  trafficking  visitors.  Now  among  the 
Algonkins,  the  Shawnee  tribe  did  more  than  all  others 

1  Ed.  de  la  Nouv.  France;  An.  1637,  p.  53,  and  Peter  Jones, 
Hist,  of  the  Ojibway  Indians,  pp.  86,  87. 

2  James  A.  Jones,  Traditions  of  the  North  American  Indians,  p.  21. 
A  work  of  small  merit,  but  presenting  a  few  valuable  facts. 

8  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  lib.  vi.  cap.  37. 

*  De  la  Borde,  ubi  supra. 

5  Le  Livre  Sucre  des  Quiches,  p.  3. 

8  Bel.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1648,  p.  75. 


THE  RATTLESNAKE.  137 

combined  to  introduce  and  carry  about  religious  legends 
and  ceremonies.  From  the  earliest  times  they  seem  to 
have  had  peculiar  aptitude  for  the  ecstasies,  deceits,  and 
fancies  that  made  up  the  spiritual  life  of  their  associates. 
Their  constantly  roving  life  brought  them  in  contact 
with  the  myths  of  many  nations ;  and  it  is  extremely 
probable  that  they  first  brought  the  tale  of  the  horned 
serpent  from  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees.  It  figured 
extensively  in  the  legends  of  both  these  tribes. 

The  latter  related  that  once  upon  a  time  among  the 
glens  of  their  mountains  dwelt  the  prince  of  rattle- 
snakes. Obedient  subjects  guarded  his  palace,  and  on 
his  head  glittered  in  place  of  a  crown  a  gem  of  mar- 
vellous magic  virtues.  Many  warriors  and  magicians 
tried  to  get  possession  of  this  precious  talisman,  but 
were  destroyed  by  the  poisoned  fangs  of  its  defenders. 
Finally,  one  more  inventive  than  the  rest  hit  upon  the 
bright  idea  of  encasing  himself  in  leather,  and  by  this 
device  marched  unharmed  through  the  hissing  and 
snapping  court,  tore  off  the  shining  jewel,  and  bore  it 
in  triumph  to  his  nation.  They  preserved  it  with  re- 
ligious care,  brought  it  forth  on  state  occasions  with 
solemn  ceremony,  and  about  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  when  Captain  Timberlake  penetrated  to  their 
towns,  told  him  its  origin.1 

The  charm  which  the  Creeks  presented  their  young 
men  when  they  set  out  on  the  war  path  was  of  very 
similar  character.  It  was  composed  of  the  bones  of 
the  panther  and  the  horn  of  the  fabulous  horned  snake. 
According  to  a  legend  taken  down  by  an  unimpeach- 
able authority  toward  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the 

1  Memoirs  of  Lieut.  Henry  Timberlake,  p.  48  (London,  1765). 
This  little  book  gives  an  account  of  the  Cherokees  at  an  earlier 
date  than  is  elsewhere  found. 


138      THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

great  snake  dwelt  in  the  waters ;  the  old  people  went 
to  the  brink  and  sang  the  sacred  songs.  The  monster 
rose  to  the  surface.  The  sages  recommenced  the  mystic 
chants.  He  rose  a  little  out  of  the  water.  Again  they 
repeated  the  songs.  This  time  he  showed  his  horns, 
and  they  cut  one  off.  Still  a  fourth  time  did  they  sing, 
and  as  he  rose  to  listen  cut  off  the  remaining  horn.  A 
fragment  of  these  in  the  "  war  physic  "  protected  from 
inimical  arrows  and  gave  success  in  the  conflict.1 

The  myth  recurs  where  no  historical  connection  can 
be  presumed.  In  the  central  region  of  the  volanic 
island  of  Dominica  is  a  deep  vale,  wherein,  alleged  the 
Carib  natives,  dwelt  a  monstrous  serpent;  "upon  its 
head  is  a  sparkling  stone  like  a  carbuncle,  which  is 
commonly  covered  with  a  thin  moving  skin,  like  a 
man's  eyelid;  but  when  he  drank  and  sported  himself 
in  that  deep  bottom,  it  was  plainly  discovered,  the 
rocks  about  the  place  receiving  a  wondrous  lustre  from 
the  fire  issuing  out  of  that  precious  crown."  This  was 
probably  the  great  serpent,  Racumon,  brother  of  Sava- 
con,  who,  according  to  De  la  Borde,  these  islanders 
believed  to  be  the  lord  of  the  hurricane  and  the  maker 
of  the  winds.1 

In  these  myths,  which  attribute  good  fortune  to  the 
horn  of  the  snake,  that  horn  which  pierces  trees  and 
rocks,  which  rises  from  the  waters,  which  glitters  as  a 
gem,  which  descends  from  the  ravines  of  the  moun- 
tains, we  shall  not  overstep  the  bounds  of  prudent 
reasoning  if  we  see  the  thunderbolt,  sign  of  the  fructi- 
fying rain,  symbol  of  the  strength  of  the  lightning, 

1  Hawkins,  Sketch  of  the  Greek  Country,  p.  80. 

2  Blomes,   State  of  His  Majesties   Territories  in  America,  p.  73 
(London,  1687) ;  De  la  Borde,  Relation  des  Caraibes,  p.  7  (Paris, 
1674). 


THE  THUNDER  BIRD.  139 

horn  of  the  heavenly  serpent.  They  are  obviously 
meteorological  in  their  original  meaning,  though  this 
is  often  obscured  and  lost  to  sight  in  later  renderings. 
When  in  later  Algonkin  tradition  the  hero  Michabo 
appears  in  conflict  with  the  shining  prince  of  serpents 
who  lives  in  the  lake  and  floods  the  earth  with  its 
waters,  and  destroys  the  reptile  with  a  dart,  and  fur- 
ther when  the  conqueror  clothes  himself  with  the  skin 
of  his  foe  and  drives  the  rest  of  the  serpents  to  the 
south,  where  in  that  latitude  the  lightnings  are  last 
seen  in  the  autumn;1  or  when  in  the  traditional  history 
of  the  Iroquois  we  hear  of  another  great  horned  serpent 
rising  out  of  the  lake  and  preying  upon  the  people  until 
a  similar  hero-god  destroys  it  with  a  thunderbolt,2  we 
cannot  be  wrong  in  rejecting  any  historical  or  ethical 
interpretation,  and  in  constructing  them  as  allegories 
which  at  first  represented  the  atmospheric  changes 
which  accompany  the  advancing  seasons  and  the  ripen- 
ing harvests.  They  are  narratives  conveying  under 
agreeable  personifications  the  tidings  of  that  unending 
combat  which  the  Dakotas  said  was  being  waged  with 
varying  fortunes  by  Unktahe  against  Wauhkeon,  the 
God  of  Waters  against  the  Thunder  Bird.3  They  are 
the  same  stories  which  in  the  old  world  have  been 
elaborated  into  the  struggles  of  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman, 

1  Schoolcraft,  Algic  Researches,  i.  p.  179  sq.  ;  compare  ii.  p.  117. 

2  Morgan,  League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  159  ;  Cusic,   Trad.  Hist,  of  the 
Six  Nations,  p.  ii. 

s  Mrs.  Eastman,  Legend*  of  the  Sioux,  pp.  161,  212.  In  this 
explanation  I  depart  from  Prof.  Schwarz,  who,  collecting  various 
legends  almost  identical  with  these  of  the  Indians  (with  which  he 
was  not  acquainted),  interpreted  the  precious  crown  or  horn  to  be 
the  summer  sun,  brought  forth  by  the  early  vernal  lightning. 
Ursprung  der  Mythologie,  p.  27,  note.  It  is  needless  to  refer  to  the 
numerous  later  writers  who  have  developed  these  views. 


140      THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

of  Thor  and  Midgard,  of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon, 
and  a  thousand  others. 

Yet  it  were  but  a  narrow  theory  of  natural  religion 
that  allowed  no  other  meaning  to  these  myths.  Many 
another  elemental  warfare  is  being  waged  around  us, 
and  applications  as  various  as  nature  herself  lie  in 
these  primitive  creations  of  the  human  fancy.  We  may 
find  reason  to  prefer  one  or  another  in  a  given  in- 
stance ;  but  the  maxim  to  be  remembered  is  that  there 
was  never  any  moral,  never  any  historical  purport  in 
them  in  the  infancy  of  religious  life. 

In  snake  charming  as  a  proof  of  proficiency  in  magic, 
and  in  the  symbol  of  the  lightning,  which  brings  both 
fire  and  water,  which  in  its  might  controls  victory  in 
war,  and  in  its  frequency,  plenteous  crops  at  home,  lies 
most  of  the  secret  of  the  serpent  symbol. 

As  the  "  war  physic  "  among  the  tribes  of  the  United 
States  was  a  fragment  of  a  serpent,  and  as  thus  signi- 
fying his  incomparable  skill  in  war,  the  Iroquois  repre- 
sent their  mythical  king  Atatarho  clothed  in  nothing 
but  black  snakes,  so  that  when  he  wished  to  don  a  new 
suit  he  simply  drove  away  one  set  and  ordered  an- 
other to  take  their  places,1  so,  by  a  precisely  similar 
mental  process,  the  myth  of  the  Nahuas  assigns  as  a 
mother  to  their  war  god  Huitzilopochtli,  Coatlicue,  the 
robe  of  serpents ;  her  dwelling  place  Coatepec,  the  hill 
of  serpents ;  and  at  her  lying-in  say  that  she  brought 
forth  a  serpent.  Her  son's  image  was  surrounded  by 
serpents,  his  sceptre  was  in  the  shape  of  one,  his  great 
drum  was  of  serpents'  skins,  and  his  statue  rested  on 
four  vermiform  caryatides. 

As  the  emblem  of  the  fertilizing  summer  showers  the 

1  Cusic,  Traditional  History,  pt.  ii. 


THE  TREE  OF  LIFE.  141 

lightning  serpent  was  the  god  of  fruitfulness.  Born  in 
the  atmospheric  waters,  it  was  an  appropriate  attribute 
of  the  ruler  of  the  winds.  But  we  have  already  seen 
that  the  winds  were  often  spoken  of  as  great  birds. 
Hence  the  union  of  these  two  emblems  in  such  names 
as  Quetzalcoatl,  Gucumatz,  Kukulkan,  all  titles  of  the 
god  of  the  air  in  the  languages  of  Central  America,  all 
signifying  the  "  Bird-serpent.' ' 

The  "  masters  "  in  native  magic  craft  explained  to 
the  bishop  Nunez  de  la  Vega  that  this  compound  sym- 
bolism was  to  represent "  the  snake  with  feathers  which 
moves  in  the  waters,"  that  is,  the  heavenly  waters,  the 
clouds  and  the  rains.1 

Frequently,  therefore,  in  the  codices  and  carvings 
from  Mexico  and  Central  America  we  find  the  tree  of 
life,  in  the  form  of  the  cross,  symbolizing  the  four  car- 
dinal points  and  their  associations,  connected  with  these 
symbols  of  the  serpent  and  the  bird ;  as  in  the  cele- 
brated cross  of  Palenque,  which  is  surmounted  by  the 
quetzal  bird  and  perhaps  rests  on  a  serpent  mask. 

Quetzalcoatl,  called  also  Yolcuat,  the  rattlesnake,  was 
no  less  intimately  associated  with  serpents  than  with 
birds.  The  entrance  to  his  temple  at  Mexico  repre- 
sented the  jaws  of  one  of  these  reptiles,  and  he  finally 
disappeared  in  the  province  of  Coatzacoalco,  the  hiding 
place  of  the  serpent,  sailing  towards  the  east  in  a  bark 
of  serpents'  skins.  All  this  refers  to  his  power  over  the 
lightning  serpent,  and  over  that  which  it  typified. 

He  was  also  said  to  be  the  god  of  riches  and  the 
patron  consequently  of  merchants.  For  with  the  sum- 
mer lightning  come  the  harvest  and  the  ripening  fruits, 
come  riches  and  traffic.  Moreover  "  the  golden  color 

1  Nunez  de  la  Vega,  Constituciones  Diocesanas  de  Chiapas^  p.  9. 


142      THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  BIRD  AND  THE  SERPENT. 

of  the  liquid  fire,"  as  Lucretius  expresses  it,  naturally 
led  where  this  metal  was  known,  to  its  being  deemed 
the  product  of  the  lightning.  Thus  originated  many 
of  those  tales  of  a  dragon  who  watches  a  treasure  in 
the  earth,  and  of  a  serpent  who  is  the  dispenser  of 
riches,  such  as  were  found  among  the  Greeks  and  An- 
cient Germans. 

So  it  was  in  Peru,  where  the  god  of  riches  was  wor- 
shipped under  the  image  of  a  rattlesnake  horned  and 
hairy,  with  a  tail  of  gold.  It  was  said  to  have  de- 
scended from  the  heavens  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people, 
and  to  have  been  seen  by  the  whole  army  of  the 
Inca.1  Whether  it  was  in  reference  to  it,  or  as  em- 
blems of  their  prowess,  that  the  Incas  themselves 
chose  as  their  arms  two  serpents  with  their  tails  inter- 
laced, is  uncertain ;  possibly  one  for  each  of  these  sig- 
nifications. 

Because  the  rattlesnake,  the  lightning  serpent,  is  thus 
connected  with  the  food  of  man,  and  itself  seems  never 
to  die  but  annually  to  renew  its  youth,  the  Algonkins 
called  it  "grandfather"  and  "king  of  snakes;"  they 
feared  to  injure  it;  they  believed  it  could  grant  pros- 
perous breezes,  or  raise  disastrous  tempests ;  crowned 
with  the  lunar  crescent  it  was  the  constant  symbol  of 
life  in  their  picture  writing ;  and  in  the  meda  signs  the 
mythical  grandmother  of  mankind  me  suk  kum  me  go 
kwa  was  indifferently  represented  by  an  old  woman  or 
a  serpent.2  For  like  reasons  Cihuacoatl,  the  Serpent 

1  "I  have  examined  many  Indians  in  reference  to  these  details," 
says  the  narrator,  an  Augustin  monk  writing  in  1554,  "  and  they 
have  all  confirmed  them  as  eye-witnesses ' '  (Lettre  sur  les  Supersti- 
tions du  Perm,  p.  106,  ed.  Ternaux-Compans.     This  document  is 
very  valuable). 

2  Narrative  of  John  Tanner,  p.  355  ;  Henry,  Travels,  p.  176. 


THE  SERPENT  SYMBOL.  143 

Woman,  in  the  myths  of  the  Nahuas  was  also  called 
Tonantzin,  our  mother.1 

The  serpent  symbol  in  America  has,  however,  met 
with  frequent  misinterpretation.  It  had  such  an  omin- 
ous significance  in  Christian  art.  and  one  which  chimed 
so  well  with  the  favorite  proverb  of  the  early  mission- 
aries— "  the  gods  of  the  heathens  are  devils  " — that 
wherever  they  saw  a  carving  or  picture  of  a  serpent 
they  at  once  recognized  the  sign  manual  of  the  Prince 
of  Darkness,  and  inscribed  the  fact  in  their  note-books 
as  proof  positive  of  their  cherished  theory.  After 
going  over  the  whole  ground,  I  am  convinced  that  none 
of  the  tribes  of  the  red  race  attached  to  this  symbol 
any  ethical  significance  whatever,  and  that  as  employed 
to  express  atmospheric  phenomena,  and  the  recogni- 
tion of  divinity  in  natural  occurrences,  it  far  more  fre- 
quently typified  what  was  favorable  and  agreeable  than 
the  reverse. 

1  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  lib.  vi.  cap.  31. 


144       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   MYTHS   OF  WATER,  FIRE,   AND   THE 
THUNDER-STORM. 

Water  the  oldest  element. — Its  use  in  purification.— Holy  Water. 
—The  Eite  of  Baptism.— The  Water  of  Life.— Its  symbols.— 
The  Vase.— The  Moon.— The  latter  the  goddess  of  love  and 
agriculture,  but  also  of  sickness,  night,  and  pain. — Often  repre- 
sented by  a  dog.  — Fire  worship  under  the  form  of  Sun  worship. 
— The  perpetual  fire. — The  new  fire. — Burning  the  dead. — The 
worship  of  the  passions,  and  the  reciprocal  principle  of  Nature. 
— Dualism  of  Deities. — American  goddesses. — Phallic  worship 
in  America. — Synthesis  of  the  worship  of  Fire,  Water,  and  the 
Winds  in  the  THUNDER-STORM,  personified  as  Haokah,  Tupa, 
Catequil,  Contici,  Heno,  Tlaloc,  Mixcoatl,  and  other  deities, 
many  of  them  triune. 

T^HE  primitive  man  was  a  brute  in  everything  but  the 
•^  susceptibility  to  culture ;  the  chief  market  of  his 
time  was  to  sleep,  fight,  and  feed  ;  his  bodily  comfort 
alone  had  any  importance  in  his  eyes ;  and  his  gods 
were  nothing,  unless  they  touched  him  here.  Cold, 
hunger,  thirst,  these  were  the  hounds  that  were  ever  on 
his  track ;  these  were  the  fell  powers  he  saw  constantly 
snatching  away  his  fellows,  constantly  aiming  their  in- 
visible shafts  at  himself.  Fire,  food,  and  water  were 
the  gods  that  fought  on  his  side ;  they  were  the  chief 
figures  in  his  pantheon,  his  kindliest,  perhaps  his  ear- 
liest, divinities. 

With  a  nearly  unanimous  voice  mythologies  assign 
the  priority  to  Water.    It  was  the  first  of  all  things,  the 


THE  PRIMEVAL  OCEAN.  145 

parent  of  all  things.  Even  the  gods  themselves  were 
born  of  water,  said  the  Greeks  and  the  Aztecs.  Cos- 
mogonies reach  no  further  than  the  primeval  ocean 
that  rolled  its  shoreless  waves  through  a  timeless  night. 

"  Omnia  pontus  erant,  deerant  quoque  litora  ponto." 

Earth,  sun,  stars,  lay  concealed  in  its  fathomless 
abysses.  "  All  of  us,"  ran  the  Mexican  baptismal  for- 
mula, "  are  children  of  Chalchihuitlycue,  Goddess  of 
Water;"  and  the  like  was  said  by  the  Peruvians  of 
Mama  Cocha,  by  the  Botocudos  of  Taru,  by  the  natives 
of  Darien  of  Dobayba,  by  the  Iroquois  of  Ataensic — 
all  of  them  mothers  of  mankind,  all  personifications 
of  water.  From  the  foam-cap  of  the  primal  ocean, 
said  the  Zunis,  impregnated  by  the  All-father,  pro- 
ceeded the  first  of  beings.1 

How  account  for  such  unanimity  ?  Not  by  suppos- 
ing some  ancient  intercourse  between  remote  tribes, 
but  by  the  uses  of  water  as  the  originator  and  supporter, 
the  essential  prerequisite  of  life.  Leaving  aside  the 
analogy  presented  by  the  motherly  waters  which  nour- 
ish the  unborn  child,  nor  emphasizing  how  indispensa- 
ble it  is  as  a  beverage,  the  many  offices  this  element 
performs  in  nature  lead  easily  to  the  supposition  that 
it  must  have  preceded  all  else.  By  quenching  thirst, 
it  quickens  life ;  as  the  dew  and  the  rain,  it  feeds  the 
plant,  and  when  withheld  the  seed  perishes  in  the 
ground  and  forests  and  flowers  alike  wither  away ;  as 
the  fountain,  the  river,  and  the  lake,  it  enriches  the 
valleys,  offers  safe  retreats,  and  provides  store  of  fishes; 
as  the  ocean,  it  presents  the  most  fitting  type  of  the 
infinite.  It  cleanses,  it  purifies ;  it  produces,  it  pre- 

1  F.  H.  Cushing,  Zufti  Creation  Myths,  p.  381. 
10 


146       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

serves.  "  Bodies,  unless  dissolved,  cannot  act,"  is  a 
maxim  of  the  earliest  chemistry.  Very  plausibly,  there- 
fore, was  it  assumed  as  the  source  of  all  things. 

The  adoration  of  streams,  springs,  and  lakes,  or  rather 
of  the  spirits  their  rulers,  prevailed  everywhere :  some- 
times avowedly  because  they  provided  food,  as  was  the 
case  with  the  Moxos,  who  called  themselves  children  of 
the  lake  or  river  on  which  their  village  was,  and  were 
afraid  to  migrate  lest  their  parent  should  be  vexed  j1 
sometimes  because  they  were  the  means  of  irrigation, 
as  in  Peru  ;  or  on  more  general  mythical  grounds.  A 
grove  by  a  fountain  is  in  all  nature-worship  a  ready- 
made  shrine  of  the  sylphs  who  live  in  its  limpid  waves 
and  chatter  mysteriously  in  its  shallows.  On  such  a 
spot  in  our  Gulf  States  one  rarely  fails  to  find  the  sac- 
rificial mound  of  the  ancient  inhabitants,  and  on  such 
the  natives  of  Central  America  were  wont  to  erect  their 
altars  (Ximenes). 

Lakes  are  the  natural  centres  of  civilization.  Like 
the  lacustrine  villages  which  the  Swiss  erected  in  ante- 
historic  times,  like  ancient  Venice,  the  city  of  Mexico 
was  first  built  on  piles  in  a  lake,  and  for  the  same  rea- 
son— protection  from  attack.  Security  once  obtained, 
growth  and  power  followed.  Thus  we  can  trace  the 
earliest  rays  of  Aztec  civilization  rising  from  Lake  Tez- 
cuco,  of  the  Peruvian  from  Lake  Titicaca,  of  the  Muys- 
cas  from  Lake  Guatavita.  These  are  the  centres  of 
legendary  cycles.  Their  waters  were  hallowed  by 
venerable  reminiscences.  From  the  depths  of  Titicaca 
r  >50  Viracocha,  mythical  civilizer  of  Peru.  Guatavita 
was  the  bourne  of  many  a  foot-sore  pilgrim  in  the  an- 
cieut  empire  of  the  Zac.  Once  a  year  the  high  priest 

i  A.  D'Orbigny,  L'Homme  Amtricain,  I  p.  240. 


HOLY  WATER.  147 

bore  the  collective  offerings  of  the  multitude  into  its 
waves,  and  anointed  with  oils  and  glittering  with  gold 
dust,  dived  deap  in  its  midst,  professing  to  hold  com- 
munion with  the  goddess  who  there  had  her  home.1 

Not  only  does  the  life  of  man  but  his  well-being  de- 
pends on  water.  As  an  ablution  it  invigorates  him 
bodily  and  mentally.  No  institution  was  in  higher 
honor  among  the  North  American  Indians  than  the 
sweat-bath  followed  by  the  cold  douche.  It  was  popu- 
lar not  only  as  a  remedy  in  any  and  every  disease,  but 
as  a  preliminary  to  a  council  or  an  important  transac- 
tion. Its  real  value  in  cold  climates  is  proved  by  the 
sustained  fondness  for  the  Russian  bath  in  the  north 
of  Europe. 

The  Indians,  however,  with  their  usual  superstition, 
attributed  its  good  effects  to  some  mysterious  healing 
power  in  water  itself.  Therefore,  when  the  patient  was 
not  able  to  undergo  the  usual  process,  or  when  his 
medical  attendant  was  above  the  vulgar  and  routine 
practice  of  his  profession,  it  was  administered  on  the 
infinitesimal  system.  The  quack  muttered  a  formula 
over  a  gourd  filled  from  a  neighboring  spring  and  sprin- 
kled it  on  his  patient,  or  washed  the  diseased  part,  or 
sucked  out  the  evil  spirit  and  blew  it  into  a  bowl  of 
water,  and  then  scattered  the  liquid  on  the  fire  or  earth.* 

At  appointed  seasons  the  Tupi  priests  assembled  the 
people,  filled  large  jars  with  water,  spake  certain  words 
of  power  over  them,  and  dipping  in  palm  branches 
sprinkled  their  hearers.3  In  the  elaborate  ritual  of  the 
Mayan  priests  the  aspergillum,  with  which  to  asperge 

1  E.  Restrepo,  Aborigines  de  Columbia,  cap.  ii. 

2  Narrative  of  Oceola  Nikkanoche,  Prince  of  Econchatti,   p.   141 ; 
Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  iv.  p.  650. 

3  Ives  d'Evreux,  Histoire  de  Maragnan,  p.  306. 


148       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

the  sacred  objects  and  the  votaries,  was  an  indispensa- 
ble adjunct.  The  sacred  fluid  should  be  the  dew  gath- 
ered at  dawn  from  the  leaves,  or  that  which  flowed  from 
a  well  of  which  no  woman  had  ever  tasted.1 

The  use  of  such  "  holy  water  "  astonished  the  Roman- 
ist missionaries,  and  they  at  once  detected  Satan  paro- 
dying the  Scriptures.  But  their  astonishment  rose  to 
horror  when  they  discovered  among  various  nations  a 
rite  of  baptism  of  appalling  similarity  to  their  own, 
connected  with  the  imposing  of  a  name,  done  avowedly 
for  the  purpose  of  freeing  from  inherent  sin,  believed 
to  produce  a  regeneration  of  the  spiritual  nature,  nay, 
in  more  than  one  instance  called  by  an  indigenous 
word  signifying  "  to  be  born  again."2 

Such  a  rite  was  of  immemorial  antiquity  among  the 
Cherokees,  Aztecs,  Mayas,  and  Peruvians.  Had  the 
missionaries  remembered  that  it  was  practised  in  Asia 
with  all  these  meanings  long  before  it  was  chosen  as 
the  sign  of  the  new  covenant,  they  need  have  invoked 
neither  Satan  nor  St.  Thomas  to  explain  its  presence 
in  America. 

As  corporeal  is  near  akin  to  spiritual  pollution,  and 
cleanliness  to  godliness,  ablution  preparatory  to  en- 
gaging in  religious  acts  came  early  to  have  an  emble- 
matic as  well  as  a  real  significance.  The  water  freed 
the  soul  from  sin  as  it  did  the  skin  from  stain.  We 
should  come  to  God  with  clean  hands  and  a  clean 
heart.  As  Pilate  washed  his  hands  before  the  multi- 

1  Landa,  Relation  de  Yucatan,  p.  87  ;  Brinton,  Primer  of  Mayan 
Hieroglyphics,  p.  104. 

2  The  term  in  Maya  is  caput  zihU,  corresponding  exactly  to  the 
Latin  renasci,  to  be  re-born,  Landa,  Rel.  de  Yucatan,  p.  144.     It  has 
every  appearance  of  an  ancient  word  and  is  in  the  MS.  Diet,  de 
Motul  of  1576. 


WATER  CEREMONIES.  149 

tude  to  indicate  that  he  would  not  accept  the  moral 
responsibility  of  their  acts,  so  from  a  similar  motive 
a  Natchez  chief,  who  had  been  persuaded  against  his 
sense  of  duty  not  to  sacrifice  himself  on  the  pyre  of 
his  ruler,  took  clean  water,  washed  his  hands,  and  threw 
it  upon  live  coals.1 

When  an  ancient  Peruvian  had  laid  bare  his  guilt 
by  confession,  he  bathed  himself  in  a  neighboring  river 
and  repeated  this  formula : — 

"  O  thou  River,  receive  the  sins  I  have  this  day  con- 
fessed unto  the  Sun,  carry  them  down  to  the  sea,  and 
let  them  never  more  appear."2 

The  Navajo  who  has  been  deputed  to  carry  a  dead 
body  to  burial,  holds  himself  unclean  until  he  has 
thoroughly  washed  himself  in  water  prepared  for  the 
purpose  by  certain  ceremonies.3  When  a  Bri-bri  has 
touched  a  corpse  or  a  pregnant  woman  he  takes  a  cala- 
bash of  water  to  purify  himself.*  A  bath  was  an  in- 
dispensable step  in  the  mysteries  of  Mithras,  the  initia- 
tion at  Eleusis,  the  meda  worship  of  the  Algonkins, 
the  Busk  of  the  Creeks,  the  ceremonials  of  religion 
everywhere.  Baptism  was  at  first  always  immersion. 
It  was  a  bath  meant  to  solemnize  the  reception  of  the 
child  into  the  guild  of  mankind,  drawn  from  the  prior 
custom  of  ablution  at  any  solemn  occasion.  In  both 
the  object  is  greater  purity,  bodily  and  spiritual. 

As  certainly  as  there  is  a  law  of  conscience,  as  cer- 
tainly as  our  actions  fall  short  of  our  volitions,  so  cer- 
tainly is  man  painfully  aware  of  various  imperfections 

1  Dumont,  Mems.  Hist,  sur  la  Louisiane,  i.  p.  233. 

2  Acosta,  Hist,  of  the  New  World,  lib.  v.  cap.  25. 

3  Senate  Report  on  Condition  of  Indian  Tribes,  p.  358    (Washing- 
ton, 1867). 

*  Gabb,  Indian  Tribes  of  Costa  Rica,  p.  505. 


150       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

and  shortcomings.  What  he  feels  he  attributes  to  the 
infant.  Avowedly  to  free  themselves  from  this  sense 
of  guilt  the  Delawares  used  an  emetic  (Loskiel),  the 
Cherokees  a  potion  cooked  up  by  an  order  of  female 
warriors  (Timberlake),  the  Takahlies  of  Washington 
Territory,  the  Aztecs,  Mayas,  and  Peruvians,  auricular 
confession. 

Formulize  these  feelings  and  we  have  the  dogmas  of 
"original  sin,"  and  of  "spiritual  regeneration."  The 
order  of  baptism  among  the  Aztecs  commenced,  "  0 
child,  receive  the  water  of  the  Lord  of  the  world,  which 
is  our  life ;  it  is  to  wash  and  to  purify ;  may  these  drops 
remove  the  sin  which  was  given  to  thee  before  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world,  since  all  of  us  are  under  its  power ;" 
and  concluded,  "Now  he  liveth  anew  and  is  born 
anew,  now  is  he  purified  and  cleansed,  now  our  mother 
the  Water  again  bringeth  him  into  the  world."1 

A  name  was  then  assigned  to  the  child,  usually  that 
of  some  ancestor,  who  it  was  supposed  would  thus  be 
induced  to  exercise  a  kindly  supervision  over  the  little 
one's  future.  In  after  life  should  the  person  desire 
admittance  to  a  superior  class  of  the  population  and 
had  the  wealth  to  purchase  it— for  here  as  in  more  en- 
lightened lands  nobility  was  a  matter  of  money — he 
underwent  a  second  baptism  and  received  another 
name,  but  still  ostensibly  from  the  goddess  of  water.2 

In  Peru  the  child  was  immersed  in  the  fluid,  the 
priest  exorcised  the  evil  and  bade  it  enter  the  water, 
which  was  then  buried  in  the  ground.3  In  either 
country  sprinkling  could  take  the  place  of  immersion. 
The  Cherokees  believe  that  unless  the  rite  is  punctually 

i  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  In,  Nwva  Espafta,  lib.  vi.  cap.  37. 

8  Ternaux-Compans,  Pieces  rel.  d  la  Cong*  du  fifexique,  p.  233. 

3  Velasco,  Hist,  de  la  Royaume  de  Quito,  p.  106,  and  others. 


FOUNTAIN  OF  YOUTH.  151 

performed  when  the    child  is  three  days  old,  it  will 
inevitably  die.1 

As  thus  curative  and  preservative,  it  was  imagined 
that  there  was  water  of  which  whoever  should  drink 
would  not  die,  but  live  forever.  I  have  already  alluded 
to  the  Fountain  of  Youth,  supposed  long  before  Colum- 
bus saw  the  surf  of  San  Salvador  to  exist  in  the  Baha- 
ma Islands  or  Florida.  It  seems  to  have  lingered  long 
on  that  peninsula.  Not  many  years  ago,  Coacooche,  a 
Seminole  chieftain,  related  a  vision  which  had  nerved 
him  to  a  desperate  escape  from  the  Castle  of  St.  Augus- 
tine. "  In  my  dream,"  said  he,  "  I  visited  the  happy 
hunting  grounds  and  saw  my  twin  sister,  long  since 
gone.  She  offered  me  a  cup  of  pure  water,  which  she 
said  came  from  the  spring  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  if  I 

1  Whipple,  Rep.  on  the  Indian  Tribes,  p.  35.  I  am  not  sure  that 
this  practice  was  of  native  growth  to  the  Cherokees.  This  people 
have  many  customs  and  traditions  strangely  similar  to  those  of 
Christians  and  Jews.  Their  cosmogony  is  a  paraphrase  of  that  of 
Genesis.  (Payne's  MSS.  in  Penna.  Hist.  Soc.)  The  number 
seven,  according  to  Whipple,  is  as  sacred  with  them  as  it  was 
with  the  Chaldeans ;  and  they  have  improved  and  increased  by 
contact  with  the  whites.  Significant  in  this  connection  is  the 
remark  of  Bartram,  who  visited  them  in  1773,  that  some  of  their 
females  were  "nearly  as  fair  and  blooming  as  European  women," 
and  generally  that  their  complexion  was  lighter  than  their  neigh- 
bors (Travels,  p.  485).  Possibly  they  derived  these  peculiarities 
from  the  Spaniards  of  Florida.  Mr.  Shea  is  of  opinion  that  mis- 
sions were  established  among  them  as  early  as  1566  and  1643 
(Hist,  of  Catholic  Missions  in  the  U.  &,  pp.  58,  73).  Certainly  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Spaniards  were  prose- 
cuting mining  operations  in  their  territory.  (See  Am.  Hist.  Mag., 
x.  p.  137.)  The  Cherokees  of  to-day  retain  many  of  the  rites  and 
feelings  of  their  ancestors.  A  valuable  study  of  them  has  been 
made  by  Mr.  James  Mooney,  The  Sacred  Formulas  of  the  Cherokees, 
in  7th  An.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 


152       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

should  drink  of  it,  I  should  return  and  live  with  her 
forever."1 

Some  such  mystical  respect  for  the  element,  rather 
than  as  a  mere  outfit  for  his  spirit  home,  probably  in- 
duced the  earlier  tribes  of  the  same  territory  to  place 
the  conch-shell  which  the  deceased  had  used  for  a  cup 
conspicuously  upon  his  grave,*  and  the  Mexicans  and 
Peruvians  to  inter  a  vase  filled  with  water  with  the 
corpse,  or  to  sprinkle  it  with  the  liquid,  baptizing  it, 
as  it  were,  into  its  new  association.8  It  was  an  emblem 
of  the  hope  that  should  cheer  the  dwellings  of  the  dead, 
a  symbol  of  the  resurrection  which  is  in  store  for  those 
who  have  gone  down  to  the  grave. 

The  vase  or  the  gourd  as  a  symbol  of  water,  the 
source  and  preserver  of  life,  is  a  conspicuous  figure  in 
the  myths  and  in  the  art  of  ancient  America.  As  Ak- 
bal  or  Huecomitl,  the  great  or  original  vase,  in  Aztec 
and  Maya  legends  it  plays  important  parts  in  the 
drama  of  creation ;  as  Tici  (Ticcu)  in  Peru  it  is  the 
symbol  of  the  rains,  and  as  a  gourd  it  is  often  men- 
tioned by  the  Caribs  and  Tupis  as  the  parent  of  the 
atmospheric  waters.  Large  reclining  images,  bearing 
vases,  have  been  exhumed  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  in 
Tlascala,  in  Yucatan,  and  elsewhere.  They  represent 
the  rain  god,  the  water  bearer,  the  patron  of  agriculture.4 

1  Sprague,  Hist,  of  the  Florida  War,  p.  328. 

2  Basanier,   Histoire  Notable  de  la  Floride,  p.  10. 

8  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espana,  lib.  iii.  app.  cap.  i. ;  Meyen, 
Ueber  die  Ureinwohner  von  Peru,  p.  29. 

*  Several  figures  of  them  are  collected  by  Jesus  Sanchez  in  an 
article  in  the  Anales  del  Museo  Nacional  de  Mexico,  Tom.  I.  The 
significance  of  the  vase-symbol  in  primitive  cosmic  conceptions  is 
ably  set  forth  by  Leo  V.  Frobenius  in  the  Verhand.  der  Berliner 
Anthrop.  Gesettschaft,  1895,  pp.  532  sqq. 


THE  MOON  GOD.  153 

As  the  MOON  is  associated  with  the  dampness  and 
dews  of  night,  an  ancient  and  wide-spread  myth  iden- 
tified her  with  the  Goddess  of  Water.  Moreover,  in 
spite  of  the  expostulations  of  the  learned,  the  common 
people  the  world  over  persist  in  attributing  to  her  a 
marked  influence  on  the  rains.  Whether  false  or  true, 
this  familiar  opinion  is  of  great  antiquity,  and  was  de- 
cidedly approved  by  the  Indians,  who  were  all,  in  the 
words  of  an  old  author, "  great  observers  of  the  weather 
by  the  moon."1  They  looked  upon  her  not  only  as 
forewarning  them  by  her  appearance  of  the  approach 
of  rains  and  fogs,  but  as  being  their  actual  cause. 

Isis,  her  Egyptian  title,  literally  means  moisture; 
Ataensic,  whom  the  Hurons  said  was  the  moon,  is  de- 
rived from  the  word  for  water.  The  Hidatsa  word  midi 
means  both  moon  and  water  ;  and  Citatli  and  Atl,  moon 
and  water,  are  constantly  confounded  in  Aztec  theology. 

Their  attributes  were  strikingly  alike.  They  were 
both  the  mythical  mothers  of  the  race,  and  both  pro- 
tect women  in  child-birth,  the  babe  in  the  cradle,  the 
husbandman  in  the  field,  and  the  youth  and  maiden  in 
their  tender  affections.  As  the  transfer  of  legends  was 
nearly  always  from  the  water  to  its  lunar  goddess,  by 
bringing  them  in  at  this  point  their  true  meaning  will 
not  fail  to  be  apparent. 

We  must  ever  bear  in  mind  that  the  course  of  my- 
thology is  from  many  gods  toward  one,  that  it  is  a  syn- 
thesis, not  an  analysis,  and  that  in  this  process  the  ten- 
dency is  to  blend  in  one  the  traits  and  stories  of 
originally  separate  divinities.  As  has  justly  been  ob- 
served by  the  Mexican  antiquarian  Gama :  "  It  was  a 
common  trait  among  the  Indians  to  worship  many  gods 

1  Gabriel  Thomas,  Hist,  of  West  New  Jersey,  p.  5  (London, 


154       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM, 

under  the  figure  of  one,  principally  those  whose  activi- 
ties lay  in  the  same  direction,  or  those  in  some  way  re- 
lated among  themselves."1 

The  time  of  full  moon  was  chosen  both  in  Mexico 
and  Peru  to  celebrate  the  festival  of  the  deities  of  water, 
the  patrons  of  agriculture,2  and  very  generally  the 
ceremonies  connected  with  the  crops  were  regulated  by 
her  phases.  The  Nicaraguans  said  that  the  god  of 
rains,  Quiateot,  rose  in  the  east,3  thus  hinting  how  this 
connection  originated.  At  a  lunar  eclipse  the  Orinoco 
Indians  seized  their  hoes  and  labored  with  exemplary 
vigor  on  their  growing  corn,  saying  the  moon  was  veil- 
ing herself  in  anger  at  their  habitual  laziness  ;*  and  a 
description  of  the  New  Netherlands,  written  about  1650, 
remarks  that  the  savages  of  that  land  «'  ascribe  great 
influence  to  the  moon  over  crops."5  With  the  Ipurinas 
of  Brazil  the  moon  is  the  god  who  sends  the  crops  and 
fruits.  He  is  addressed  as  "  Our  father,"  and  described 
as  a  little  old  man  with  his  hair  over  his  forehead.8 
Among  the  Guaycurus  of  Paraguay  the  women  only, 
the  tillers  of  the  fields,  performed  the  rites  to  the  lunar 
deity,  whose  favor  they  asked  as  the  giver  of  increase 
and  the  harvest.7 

This  venerable  superstition,  common  to  all  races,  still 
lingers  among  our  own  farmers,  many  of  whom  con- 
tinue to  observe  ''  the  signs  of  the  moon  "  in  sowing 

1  Gama,  Des.  delasdos  Piedras,  etc.,  i.  p.  36. 

2  Garcia,  Or.  de  los  /radios,  p.  109. 

5  Oviedo,  Bel.  de  la  Prov.  de  Nicaragua,  p.  41.     The  name  is  a 
corruption  of  the  Aztec  Quiauhteotl,  Rain-God. 

*  Gumilla,  Hist,  del  Orinoco,  ii.  cap.  23. 

6  Doc.  Hist,  of  New  York,  iv.  p.  130. 

6  Paul  Ehrenreich,  Volker  Brasiliens,  p.  72  (1891). 

7  Guido  Boggiani,  I  Caduvei,  p.  298  (1895). 


THE  MOON  GOD.  155 

grain,  setting  out  trees,  cutting  timber,  and  other  rural 
avocations. 

As  representing  water,  the  universal  mother,  the 
moon  was  the  protectress  of  women  in  child-birth,  the 
goddess  of  love  and  babes,  the  patroness  of  marriage. 
To  her  the  mother  called  in  travail,  whether  by  the 
name  of  "  Diana,  diva  triformis,"  in  pagan  Rome,  by 
that  of  Mama  Quilla  in  Peru,  or  of  Metztli  in  Anahauc. 
Under  the  title  of  Yohualticitl,  the  Lady  of  Night,  she 
was  also  in  this  latter  country  the  guardian  of  babes, 
and  as  Tecziztecatl,  the  cause  of  generation.1 

Very  different  is  another  aspect  of  the  moon  goddess, 
and  well  might  the  Mexicans  paint  her  with  two  colors. 
The  beneficent  dispenser  of  harvests  and  offspring,  she 
nevertheless  has  a  portentous  and  terrific  phase.  She 
is  also  the  goddess  of  the  night,  the  dampness,  and  the 
cold;  she  engenders  the  miasmatic  poisons  that  rack 
our  bones ;  she  conceals  in  her  mantle  the  foe  who 
takes  us  unawares ;  she  rules  those  vague  shapes  which 
fright  us  in  the  dim  light;  the  causeless  sounds  of 
night  or  its  more  oppressive  silence  is  familiar  to  her ; 
she  it  is  who  sends  dreams  wherein  gods  and  devils 
have  their  sport  with  man,  and  slumber,  the  twin 
brother  of  Death.  In  the  occult  philosophy  of  the  mid- 
dle ages  she  was  "Chief  over  the  Night,  Darkness, 
Rest,  Death,  and  the  Waters;"2  in  the  language  of  the 
Algonkins,  her  name  is  identical  with  the  words  for 
night,  death,  cold,  sleep,  and  water.3 

1  Gama,  Des.  de  las  dos  Piedras,  ii.  p.  41  ;  Gallatin,  Trans.  Am. 
Ethnol.  Soc.,  i.  p.  343. 

2  Adrian  Van  Helmont,  Workes,  p.  142,  fol.  (London,  1662). 

3  The  moon  is  nipa  or  nipaz ;  nipa,  I  sleep  ;  nipawi,  night ;  nip, 
I  die ;  nepua,  dead  ;    nipanoue,  cold.     This  odd  relationship  was 
first  pointed  out  by  Volney  (Duponceau,  Langues  de  V  Amerique  du 


156       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

She  is  the  evil  minded  woman  who  thus  brings  dis- 
eases upon  men,  who  at  the  outset  introduced  pain 
and  death  in  the  world — our  common  mother,  yet  the 
cruel  cause  of  our  present  woes.  Sometimes  it  is  the 
moon,  sometimes  water,  of  whom  this  is  said :  "  We  are 
all  of  us  under  the  power  of  evil  and  sin,  because  we 
are  children  of  the  Water,"  says  the  Mexican  baptismal 
formula.  That  Unktahe,  spirit  of  water,  is  the  master 
of  dreams  and  witchcraft,  is  the  belief  of  the  Dakotas.1 
The  Hurons  related  of  Ataensic  that  she  was  mistress 
of  the  souls  of  the  dead,  and  destroyed  the  living.*  A 
female  spirit,  wife  of  the  great  manito  whose  heart  is 
the  sun,  the  ancient  Algonkins  believed  brought  death 
and  disease  to  the  race ;  "  it  is  she  who  kills  men,  other- 
wise they  would  never  die;  she  eats  their  flesh  and 
gnaws  their  vitals,  till  they  fall  away  and  miserably 
perish."4 

Who  is  this  woman  ?  In  the  legend  of  the  Muyscas 
it  is  Chia,  the  moon,  who  was  also  goddess  of  water  and 
flooded  the  earth  out  of  spite.4  Her  reputation  was 
notoriously  bad.  Did  she  appear  in  a  dream  to  a  Sauk 
warrior,  he  dressed  himself  as  a  woman  and  labored  as 

Nord,  p.  317).  But  the  kinship  of  these  words  to  that  for  water, 
nip,  nipi,  nepi,  has  not  before  been  noticed.  This  proves  the  asso- 
ciation of  ideas  on  which  I  lay  so  much  stress  in  mythology.  A 
somewhat  similar  relationship  exists  in  the  Aztec  and  cognate  lan- 
guages, miqui,  to  die,  micqui,  dead,  mictlan,  the  realm  of  death,  te- 
miqui,  to  dream,  cec-miqui,  to  freeze.  Would  it  be  going  too  far  to 
connect  these  with  metdi,  moon  ?  (See  Buschmann,  Spuren  der  Azte- 
kischen  Spracke  im  Nordlichen  Mexico,  p.  80.) 

i  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  vol.  iii.  p.  485. 

»  Bel.  de  la  NouveUe  France,  1635,  p.  34  ;  Sagard,  Diet,  de  la  Langue 
Huronne. 

8  Ed.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1634,  p.  16. 

*  Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  21. 


LUNAR  INFLUENCES.  157 

such  for  a  time,  to  avoid  her  anger.1  The  Brazilian 
mother  carefully  shielded  her  infant  from  the  lunar 
rays,  believing  that  they  would  produce  sickness  ;2  the 
hunting  tribes  of  our  own  country  will  not  sleep  in  its 
light,  nor  leave  their  game  exposed  to  its  action.  We 
ourselves  have  not  outgrown  such  words  as  lunatic, 
moon-struck,  and  the  like. 

Where  did  we  get  these  ideas  ?  The  philosophical 
historian  of  medicine,  Kurt  Sprengel,  traces  them  to 
the  primitive  and  popular  medical  theories  of  ancient 
Egypt,  in  accordance  with  which  all  maladies  were  the 
effects  of  the  anger  of  the  goddess  Isis,  the  Moisture,  the 
Moon.8 

We  have  here  the  key  to  many  myths.  Take  that  of 
Centeotl,  the  Aztec  goddess  of  Maize.  Although  gene- 
rally beneficent,  she  was  said  at  times  to  appear  as  a 
woman  of  surpassing  beauty,  and  allure  some  unfortu- 
nate to  her  embraces,  destined  to  pay  with  his  life  for 
his  brief  moments  of  pleasure.  Even  to  see  her  in  this 
shape  was  a  fatal  omen.  She  was  also  said  to  belong  to 
a  class  of  gods  whose  home  was  in  the  west,  and  who 
produced  sickness  and  pains.4  Here  we  see  the  evil 
aspect  of  the  moon  reflected  on  another  goddess,  who 
was  at  first  solely  the  patroness  of  agriculture. 

As  the  goddess  of  sickness,  it  was  supposed  that  per- 
sons afflicted  with  certain  diseases  had  been  set  apart 
by  the  moon  for  her  peculiar  service.  These  diseases 
were  those  of  a  humoral  type,  especially  such  as  are 
characterized  by  issues  and  ulcers.  As  in  Hebrew  the 

1  Keating,  Narrative,  i.  p.  216,  in  Waitz. 

2  Spix  and  Martius,  Travels  in  Brazil,  ii.  p.  247. 

*  Hist,  de  la  Mededne,  i.  p.  34. 

*  Gama,  Des.  de  las  dos  Piedras,  etc.,  ii.  pp.  100-102.     Compare 
Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espafia,  lib.  i.  cap.  vi. 


158       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

word  accursed  is  derived  from  a  root  meaning  conse- 
crated to  God,  so  in  the  Aztec,  Quiche",  and  other  tongues, 
the  word  for  leprous,  eczematous,  or  syphilitic,  means  also 
divine. 

This  hizarre  change  of  meaning  is  illustrated  in  a 
very  ancient  myth  of  their  family.  It  is  said  that  in 
the  absence  of  the  sun  all  mankind  lingered  in  dark- 
ness. Nothing  but  a  human  sacrifice  could  hasten  his 
arrival.  Then  Metztli,  the  moon,  led  forth  one  Nana- 
huatl,  the  leprous,  and  building  a  pyre,  the  victim 
threw  himself  in  its  midst.  Straightway  Metztli  fol- 
lowed his  example,  and  as  she  disappeared  in  the 
bright  flames  the  sun  rose  over  the  horizon.1  Is  not 
this  a  reference  to  the  kindling  rays  of  the  aurora,  in 
which  the  dank  and  baleful  night  is  sacrified,  and  in 
whose  light  the  moon  presently  fades  away,  and  the 
sun  comes  forth  ? 

Another  reaction  in  the  mythological  laboratory  is 
here  disclosed.  As  the  good  qualities  of  water  were 
attributed  to  the  goddess  of  night,  sleep,  and  death,  so 
her  malevolent  traits  were  in  turn  reflected  back  on 
this  element.  Other  thoughts  aided  the  transfer.  In 
primitive  geography  the  Ocean  Stream  coils  its  infinite 
folds  around  the  speck  of  land  we  inhabit,  biding  its 
time  to  swallow  it  wholly.  Unwillingly  did  it  yield 
the  earth  from  its  bosom,  daily  does  it  steal  it  away 
piece  by  piece.  Every  evening  it  hides  the  light  in  its 
depths,  and  Night  and  the  Waters  resume  their  ancient 

1  Codex  Chimalpopoca,  in  Brasseur,  Hist,  du  Mexique,  i.  p.  183. 
Gama  and  others  translate  Nanahuatl  by  el  buboso,  Brasseur  by  le 
syphUitique,  and  the  latter  founds  certain  medical  speculations  on 
the  word.  Several  suggestions  have  been  offered  by  ancient  and 
modern  writers  about  this  singular  association  of  ideas.  I  have 
collected  them  in  Essays  of  an  Americanist,  pp.  115,  116. 


WATER  SPIRITS.  159 

sway.  The  word  for  ocean  (mare)  in  the  Latin  tongue 
means  by  derivation  a  desert,  and  the  Greeks  spoke 
of  it  as  "  the  barren  brine." 

Water  is  a  treacherous  element.  Man  treads  boldly 
on  the  solid  earth,  but  the  rivers  and  lakes  constantly 
strive  to  swallow  those  who  venture  within  their  reach. 
As  streams  run  in  tortuous  channels,  and  as  rains  ac- 
company the  lightning  serpent,  this  animal  was  oc- 
casionally the  symbol  of  the  waters  in  their  dangerous 
manifestations.  The  Huron  magicians  fabled  that  in 
the  lakes  and  rivers  dwelt  one  of  vast  size  called  An- 
gont,  who  sent  sickness,  death,  and  other  mishaps,  and 
the  least  mite  of  whose  flesh  was  a  deadly  poison.  They 
added — and  this  was  the  point  of  the  tale — that  they 
always  kept  on  hand  portions  of  the  monster  for  the 
benefit  of  any  who  opposed  their  designs.1 

The  legends  of  the  Algonkins  mention  a  rivalry  be- 
tween Michabo,  creator  of  the  earth,  and  the  Spirit  of 
the  Waters,  who  was  unfriendly  to  the  project.2  In 
later  tales  this  antagonism  becomes  more  and  more 
pronounced,  and  borrows  an  ethical  significance  which 
it  did  not  have  at  first.  Taking,  however,  American 
religions  as  a  whole,  water  is  far  more  frequently  rep- 
resented as  producing  beneficent  effects  than  the  re- 
verse. 

Dogs  were  supposed  to  stand  in  some  peculiar  rela- 
tion to  the  moon,  probably  because  they  howl  at  it  and 
run  at  night,  uncanny  practices  which  have  cost  them 
dear  in  reputation.  The  custom  prevailed  among  tribes 

1  Eel.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1648,  p.  75. 

2  Charlevoix  is  in  error  when  he  identifies  Michabo  with  the 
Spirit  of  the  Waters,  and  maybe  corrected  from  his  own  statements 
elsewhere.     Compare  his  Journal  Historique,  pp.  281  and  344  (ed. 
Paris,  1740). 


160       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

so  widely  asunder  as  Peruvians,  Tupis,  Creeks,  Iroquois, 
Algonkins,  and  Greenland  Eskimos  to  thrash  the  curs 
most  soundly  during  an  eclipse.1  The  Creeks  explained 
this  by  saying  that  the  big  dog  was  swallowing  the  sun, 
and  that  by  whipping  the  little  ones  they  could  make 
him  desist.  What  the  big  dog  was  they  were  not  pre- 
pared to  say.  We  know.  It  was  the  night  goddess, 
represented  by  the  dog,  who  was  thus  shrouding  the 
world  at  midday. 

The  ancient  Romans  sacrificed  dogs  to  Hecate  and 
Diana,  in  Egypt  they  were  sacred  to  Isis,  and  thus  as 
traditionally  connected  with  night  and  its  terrors,  the 
Prince  of  Darkness,  in  the  superstition  of  the  middle 
ages,  preferably  appeared  under  the  form  of  a  cur, 
as  that  famous  poodle  which  accompanied  Cornelius 
Agrippa,  or  that  which  grew  to  such  enormous  size 
behind  the  stove  of  Dr.  Faustus. 

In  a  better  sense,  they  represented  the  more  agreea- 
ble characteristics  of  the  lunar  goddess.  Xochiquetzal, 
most  fecund  of  Aztec  divinities,  patroness  of  love,  of 
sexual  pleasure,  and  of  childbirth,  was  likewise  called 
Itzcuinan,  which,  literally  translated,  is  bitch-mother. 
This  strange  and  to  us  so  repugnant  title  for  a  goddess 
was  not  without  parallel  elsewhere.  When  in  his  wars 
the  Inca  Pachacutec  carried  his  arms  into  the  province 
of  Huanca,  he  found  its  inhabitants  had  installed  in 
their  temples  the  figure  of  a  dog  as  their  highest  deity. 
They  were  accustomed  also  to  select  one  as  his  iving 
representative,  to  pray  to  it  and  offer  it  sacrifice,  and 
when  well  fattened,  to  serve  it  up  with  solemn  cere- 
monies at  a  great  feast,  eating  their  god  substantiality. 

1  Bradford,  American  Antiquities,  p.  333  ;  Martius,  Von  dem  Rechts- 
zustande  unter  den  Ureinwohnern  ErasUiens,  p.  32  ;  Schoolcraft,  Ind. 
Tribes,  i.  p.  271 ;  Von  Tschudi,  Beitrage,  p.  29. 


DOG  STOBIES.  161 

The  priests  in  this  province  summoned  their  attendants 
to  the  temple  by  blowing  through  an  instrument  fash- 
ioned from  a  dog's  skull.1 

This  canine  canonization  explains  why  in  some  parts 
of  Peru  a  priest  was  called  by  way  of  honor  allco,  dog  P 
And  why  in  many  tombs  both  there  and  in  Mexico 
their  skeletons  are  found  carefully  interred  with  the 
human  remains.  Many  tribes  of  the  Pacific  coast 
united  in  the  adoration  of  a  wild  species,  the  coyote, 
the  cam's  latrans  of  naturalists.  The  Shoshonees  of  New 
Mexico  call  it  their  progenitor  ;3  in  the  myths  of  the 
Shuswap  and  Kootenay  of  British  Columbia  it  is  the 
creator  of  the  world  ;4  and  with  the  Nahuas  it  was  in 
such  high  honor  that  it  had  a  temple  of  its  own,  a  con- 
gregation of  priests  devoted  to  its  service,  statues  carved 
in  stone,  an  elaborate  tomb  at  death,  and  is  said  to  be 
meant  by  the  god  Chantico,  whose  audacity  caused  one 
of  the  destructions  of  the  world. 

The  story  was  that  he  made  a  sacrifice  to  the  gods 
without  observing  a  preparatory  fast,  for  which  he  was 
punished  by  being  changed  into  a  dog.  He  then  in- 
voked the  god  of  death  to  deliver  him,  which  attempt 
to  evade  a  just  punishment  so  enraged  the  divinities 
that  they  immersed  the  world  in  water.5 

1  La  Vega,  Hist,  des  Incas,  liv.  vi.  cap.  9. 

2  Lett,  sur  les  Superstitions  du  Perou,  p.  111. 
8  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  iv.  p.  224. 

4  Geo.  M.  Dawson,  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Canada,  1891,  p.  28  ;  A.  F. 
Chamberlain,  Amer.  Antiquarian,  1892.     Numerous    other  coyote 
myths  have  been  recorded  by  Dr.  Franz  Boas,  Stephen  Powers 
(Tribes  of  California},  etc. 

5  Chantico  or  Chancoti,  according  to  Gama,   means   "Wolf's 
Head,"  though  I  cannot  verify  this  from  the  vocabularies  within 
my  reach.     He  (or  she)  is  sometimes  called  Cohuaxolotl  Chantico, 
the  snake-servant  Chantico,  considered  by  Gama  as  one,  by  Tor- 

11 


162       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIEE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

During  a  storm  on  our  northern  lakes  the  Indians 
think  no  offering  so  likely  to  appease  the  angry  water 
god  who  is  raising  the  tempest  as  a  dog.  Therefore  they 
hasten  to  tie  the  feet  of  one  and  toss  him  overboard.1 
One  meets  constantly  in  their  tales  and  superstitions  the 
mysterious  powers  of  the  animals,  and  the  distinguished 
actions  he  has  at  times  performed  bear  usually  a  close 
parallelism  to  those  attributed  to  water  and  the  moon. 

Hunger  and  thirst  were  thus  alleviated  by  water. 
Cold  remained,  and  against  this  fire  was  the  shield.  It 
gives  man  light  in  darkness  and  warmth  in  winter ;  it 
shows  him  his  friends  and  warns  him  of  his  foes ;  the 
flames  point  toward  heaven  and  the  smoke  makes  the 
clouds.  Around  it  social  life  begins.  For  his  home 
and  his  hearth  the  savage  has  but  one  word,  and  what 
of  tender  emotion  his  breast  can  feel,  is  linked  to  the 
circle  that  gathers  around  his  fire.  The  council  fire, 
the  camp  fire,  and  the  war  fire,  are  so  many  epochs  in 
his  history.  By  its  aid  many  arts  become  possible,  and 
it  is  a  civil  izer  in  m  )re  ways  than  one. 

quemada  as  two  deities  (see  Gama,  Des.  delas  dos  Piedras,  etc.,  i.  p. 
12  ;  ii.  p.  66).  The  English  word  cantico  in  the  phrase,  for  instance, 
"to  cut  a  cantico,"  though  an  Indian  word,  is  not  from  this,  but 
from  the  Algonkin  Delaware  gentkehn,  to  dance  a  sacred  dance.  The 
Dutch  describe  it  as  "a  religious  custom  observed  among  them 
before  death"  (Doc.  Hist,  of  New  York,  iv.  p.  63).  William  Penn 
says  of  the  Lenape,  "  their  worship  consists  of  two  parts,  sacrifice 
and  cantico,"  the  latter  "  performed  by  round  dances,  sometimes 
words,  sometimes  songs,  then  shouts  ;  their  postures  very  antic  and 
differing."  (Letter  to  the  Free  Society  of  Traders,  1683,  sec.  21.) 

1  Charlevoix,  Hist.  Gen.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  i.  p.  394  (Paris, 
1740).  The  different  species  of  dogs  indigenous  to  America,  and 
domesticated  by  the  red  race,  have  been  studied  by  E.  D.  Cope, 
Ihering  and  others.  Von  Tschudi  has  an  interesting  article  on 
those  of  South  America  (Beitrdge,  p.  26,  sq.) 


SOLAR  MYTHS.  163 

In  the  figurative  language  of  the  red  race,  it  is  con- 
stantly used  as  "  an  emblem  of  peace,  happiness,  and 
abundance."1  To  extinguish  an  enemy's  fire  is  to  slay 
him;  to  light  a  visitor's  fire  is  to  bid  him  welcome. 
Fire  worship  was  closely  related  to  that  of  the  sun,  and 
so  much  has  been  said  of  sun  worship  among  the  abo- 
rigines of  America  that  it  is  essential  to  assign  to  it  the 
correct  position  that  it  held. 

A  decade  or  two  ago  it  was  a  fashion  very  much  ap- 
proved to  explain  as  a  "  solar  myth  "  every  symbolic 
narrative  coined  by  the  primitive  religious  fancy. 
Wiser  opinions  now  prevail.  It  has  come  to  be  recog- 
nized that  no  one  key  will  open  all  the  arcana  of  sym- 
bolism. Man  devised  means  as  varied  as  nature  her- 
self to  express  the  idea  of  God  within  him,  The  sun 
was  certainly  one  of  these,  and  it  holds  a  prominent 
position  in  the  pantheon  of  many  primitive  peoples. 
The  "  mysterious  one  of  day,"  as  this  orb  was  called  by 
the  Dakotas,  frequently  appears  in  the  myths  as  the 
father  of  the  race  of  men,  as  the  divinity  which  watches 
their  progress,  lends  them  aid  and  listens  to  their 
prayers.  The  Algonquin  word,  kesuk,  sun,  is  derived 

1  Narr.  of  the  Captiv.  of  John  Tanner,  p.  362.  From  the  word 
for  fire  in  many  American  tongues  is  formed  the  adjective  red. 
Thus,  Algonkin,  skoda,  fire,  miskoda,  red  ;  Kolosch,  kan,  fire,  kan, 
red ;  Ugalentz,  takak,  fire,  takak-uete,  red  ;  Tahkali,  cun,  fire,  tenil- 
cun,  red ;  Quiche,  cak,  fire,  cak,  red,  etc.  From  the  adjective  red 
comes  often  the  word  for  blood,  as  Iroquois,  onekwensa,  blood,  onek- 
wentara,  red  ;  Algonkin,  miskwi,  blood,  miskoda,  red,  etc.,  and  in 
symbolism  the  color  red  may  refer  to  either  of  these  ideas.  It  was 
the  royal  color  of  the  Incas,  brothers  of  the  sun,  and  a  llama 
swathed  in  a  red  garment  was  the  Peruvian  sacrifice  to  fire  (Garcia, 
Or.  de  los  Indios,  lib.  iv.  caps.  16,  19).  On  the  other  hand  the  war 
quipus,  the  war  wampum,  and  the  war  paint  were  all  of  this  hue, 
boding  their  sanguinary  significance. 


164       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

from  a  verb  which  means  "to  give  life;"1  expressed  in 
the  Zunian  myths  by  the  figure  that  "  the  sun  formed 
the  seed-stuff  of  the  world."2 

But  these  and  a  hundred  more  such  tropes  which 
could  easily  be  collected,  set  forth  incompletely  the 
thought  which  is  behind  them,  and  which  appears 
clearly  in  other  forms  of  the  same  narratives  and  terms. 
Almost  everywhere  in  the  native  religious  expres- 
sions we  can  discover  a  carefully-guarded  distinction 
between  the  sun  itself  as  a  visible  object,  and  certain 
attributes  for  which  it  symbolically  stood.  These  were 
especially  light  and  warmth,  and  what  appears  as  sun- 
worship  will  prove  generally  to  be  on  close  examina- 
tion, worship  of  light  and  fire ;  a  distinction  well-main- 
tained in  myth  and  ritual,  and  therefore  of  prime  im- 
portance in  studying  their  traits. 

This  is  visible  both  in  words  and  expressions.  In 
the  Algonkin  dialects  (and  in  very  many  others)  the 
word  for  sun  above  quoted,  means  also  "  sky "  and 
"  day."  Old  authorities  state  that  they  did  not  regard 
the  sun  as  a  divinity  but  as  merely  a  symbol.  It  was 
the  "  wigwam  of  the  Great  Spirit,"  and  when  ques- 
tioned as  to  whether  they  prayed  to  it  they  answered, 
"  Not  to  the  sun,  but  to  the  Old  Man  who  lives  there."3 
In  many  native  languages  the  same  word  stands  for 
both  sun  and  moon,  the  distinction,  when  required, 
being  made  by  some  qualifying  term.  In  others, 
as  the  Natchez,  the  Kolosch,  the  Tezuque,  and  the 

1  J.  H.  Trumbull,  in  notes  to  Roger  Williams,  Language  of 
America,  p.  104.  But  kesuk  means  moon  as  well  as  sun. 

1  F.  H.  Gushing,  Zunian  Creation  Myths,  p.  379. 

8  Compare  La  Hontan,  Voy.  dans  FAmer.,  vol.  ii.  p.  127; 
Ed.  Nouv.  Fiance,  1637,  p.  54;  Copway,  Trad.  Hist,  of  the  Ojibway 
Nation,  p.  165. 


SUN  AND  FIRE.  165 

Arawack  dialects  of  South  America,  the  word  for 
"  sun  "  is  derived  from  that  for  "  fire,"  and  the  sun  is 
often  referred  to  merely  as  "  the  great  fire,"  thus  assign- 
ing to  that  element  the  predominance  in  thought.  We 
are  definitely  informed  by  a  close  observer  that  the 
Nahuas  regarded,  not  the  sun,  but  fire  as  "  the  father 
and  mother  of  all  things  and  the  author  of  nature."1 
To  them  fire  was  the  active  generator,  the  life-giver, 
the  source  of  animate  existence ;  and  this  we  shall  dis- 
cover running  widely  through  the  alleged  heliolatry  of 
the  American  Indian. 

It  is  reflected  in  the  Choctaw  expressions  about  fire 
and  the  sun.  They  refer  to  fire  as  shahli  miko,  "  the 
greater  chief,"  and  speak  of  it  as  hashe  ittiapa,  "  He 
who  accompanies  the  sun  and  the  sun  him."  Their 
language  has  a  "  fire  particle,"  used  to  express  the  real 
or  imagined  actions  of  the  element.  On  going  to  war 
they  call  for  aid  on  both  sun  and  fire ;  "  but  except  as 
fire,  they  do  not  address  the  sun,  nor  does  that  body 
stand  in  any  relation  to  their  religious  thought  other 
than  as  fire."2 

Numerous  myths  reveal  this  distinction  which  I 
somewhat  insist  upon,  because  I  believe  its  proper  un- 
derstanding is  essential  to  a  correct  appreciation  of  the 
inner  and  higher  meanings  of  American  religions.  For 
example,  the  Mohaves  of  Colorado  related  that  their 
chief  divinity,  Matowelia,  was  above  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars,  and  guided  them  in  their  journeys.  His 
dwelling  place  was  beyond  them,  on  the  summit  of 
the  "  White  Mountain,"  the  sky  or  heavens,  and  to  him 
fared  the  souls  of  those  fortunate  Mohaves  whose 

1  Martin  de  Leon,  Camino  del  Cielo,  fol.  100  (Mexico,  1611). 

2  Byington,  Grammar  of  the  Choctaw  Language,  p.  43  ;  Kev.  Al- 
fred Wright,  Missionary  Herald,  vol.  xxiv. 


166       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM:. 

bodies  were  duly  incinerated;  while  those  toward 
whom  this  was  neglected  turned  into  owls,  gloomy 
birds  of  night.1 

So  of  the  Pawnees.  Their  prayers  for  help  "  are  not 
directed  to  the  sun  in  any  other  sense  than  one  of  many 
mediators."  The  intangible  and  omnipotent  Atius 
Tirawa,  whose  house  is  the  heavens  and  whose  messen- 
gers are  the  eagle  and  the  buzzard,  is  he  who  called 
sun,  moon  and  stars  into  being  and  ordered  them  their 
various  circuits.2 

All  the  tribes  on  the  Northwest  Coast  attribute  the 
creative  act  to  the  original  Raven  who  lived  before  the 
sun  was  formed.  He  found  it  by  one  or  another  acci- 
dent, and,  picking  it  up,  "  placed  it  in  the  heavens, 
where  it  has  been  ever  since."  With  the  Kootenays  it 
is  either  the  coyote  or  the  chicken  hawk  who  manu- 
factures the  sun  out  of  a  ball  of  grease  and  sets  it  in 
the  sky  to  pursue  its  course, — rude  fancies,  but  serving 
as  well  as  any  to  show  that  these  tribes  did  not  regard 
the  sun  as  the  visible  creator  or  the  highest  divinity.3 
The  Brazilian  Indian  says  that  the  sun  is  a  ball  of 
bright  feathers,  which  some  mysterious  being  shows 
during  the  day  and  covers  at  night  with  a  pot.4 

In  another  relation,  as  I  shall  show  later,  the  sun 
was  connected  with  the  perception  of  light,  but  not 
identified  with  it.  Light  comes  with  the  dawn,  before 
the  sun  brings  it  forth,  creates  it,  as  it  were.  Hence 
the  Light  God  is  not  the  sun  god,  but  his  antecedent 
and  maker. 

1  G.  A.  Allen,  in  Smithsonian  Report,  1890. 
s  G.  B.  Grinnell,  in  Jour.  Amer.  Folk-lyre,  1893,  p.  113,  sq. 
3  James  Deans  and  A.  F.  Chamberlain,   in  the  American  Anti- 
quarian, March,  1895. 

*  Von  den  Steinen,  Naturvolker  Zentral-Braziliens,  p.  359. 


HELIOLATRY.  167 

The  heliolatry  organized  principally  for  political 
ends  by  the  Incas  of  Peru,  stands  alone  in  the  religions 
of  the  red  race.  Those  shrewd  legislators  at  an  early 
date  officially  announced  that  Inti,  the  sun,  their  own 
elder  brother,  was  ruler  of  the  cohorts  of  heaven  by 
like  divine  right  that  they  were  of  the  four  corners  of 
the  earth.  This  scheme  ignominiously  failed,  as  every 
attempt  to  fetter  the  liberty  of  conscience  must  and 
should.  The  later  Incas  finally  indulged  publicly  in 
heterodox  remarks,  and  compromised  the  matter  by 
acknowledging  a  divinity  superior  even  to  their 
brother  the  Sun,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter. 

The  myths  of  creation  rarely  represent  the  sun  as 
anterior  to  the  world,  but  as  manufactured  by  the  "  old 
people  "  (Navajos) ;  as  kindled  and  set  going  by  the 
first  of  men  (Algonkins)  ;  as  freed  from  some  cave  by 
a  kindly  deity  (Haitians  and  Quichuas) ;  as  obtained 
by  a  god  sacrificing  himself  on  the  fire  (Nahuas)  ;  as 
moulded  and  started  on  its  journey  by  the  Light-god 
(Muyscas) ;  and  in  a  variety  of  other  names.  Where 
the  sun  is  reported  to  have  been  literally  the  Creator, 
it  is  usually  owing  to  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  lan- 
guage or  of  insight  into  the  religious  thought  of  the 
tribe  on  the  part  of  the  observer. 

Where  we  have  any  considerable  body  of  the  myths 
of  a  tribe,  of  pure  alloy  and  in  the  native  tongue,  we 
scarcely  anywhere  discover  that  the  Sun  represents 
either  their  first,  greatest  or  central  theistic  conception. 
Thus,  among  the  Nahuas,  Tonatiuh,  the  Sun,  was  a 
very  subordinate  deity  compared  to  Yaotl  and  others  j1 
and  in  the  Popol  Vuh  of  the  Quiches  it  does  not  ap- 
pear as  a  deity  at  all. 

Comp.  Sahagun,  Historia,  lib.  iii..  App.  cap.  iv. 


168       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

Some  readers  will  be  surprised  that  I  assign  a  so  much 
more  prominent  place  in  primitive  religions  to  the  moon 
than  to  the  sun ;  but  not  only  is  this  borne  out  in  refer- 
ence to  them  by  the  facts  I  have  stated  and  by  a  long 
list  of  others  that  could  be  adduced,  but  also  it  is 
reiterated  in  the  modern  folk-lore  of  all  countries. 
In  this,  as  specialists  are  aware,  moon  superstitions  are 
incomparably  more  frequent  than  those  relating  to  the 
sun.  Various  explanations  have  been  offered  for  this, 
but  no  one  questions  the  fact.1 

The  institutions  of  a  perpetual  fire,  of  obtaining  new 
fire,  and  of  burning  the  dead,  prevailed  extensively 
in  the  New  World.  In  the  present  discussion  the  ori- 
gin of  such  practices,  rather  than  the  ceremonies  with 
which  they  were  attended,  have  an  interest.  The  sav- 
age knew  that  fire  was  necessary  to  his  life.  Were  it 
lost,  he  justly  foreboded  dire  calamities  and  the  ruin 
of  his  race.  Therefore  at  stated  times  with  due  solem- 
nity he  produced  it  anew  by  friction  or  the  flint,  or  else 
was  careful  to  keep  one  fire  constantly  alive. 

These  not  unwise  precautions  soon  fell  to  mere  su- 
perstitions. If  the  Aztec  priest  at  the  stated  time  failed 
to  obtain  a  spark  from  his  pieces  of  wood,  if  the  sacred 
fire  by  chance  became  extinguished,  the  end  of  the 
world  or  the  destruction  of  mankind  was  apprehended. 
u  You  know  it  was  a  saying  among  our  ancestors,"  said 
an  Iroquois  chief  in  1753,  "  that  when  the  fire  at  Onon- 
daga  goes  out,  we  shall  no  longer  be  a  people."* 

So  deeply  rooted  was  this  notion,  that  the  Catholic 
missionaries  in  New  Mexico  were  fain  to  wink  at  it, 

1  See  the  remarks  of  W.  W.  Newell  in  introduction  to  Mrs. 
Fanny  D.  Bergen's  Current  Superstitions,  1896. 
*  Doc.  Hist,  of  New  York,  ii.  p.  634. 


FIRE-WORSHIP.  169 

and  perform  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  in  the  same  build- 
ing where  the  flames  were  perpetually  burning,  that 
were  not  allowed  to  die  until  Montezuma  and  the  fabled 
glories  of  ancient  Anahuac  with  its  heathenism  should 
return.1 

Throughout  the  continent  fire  became  the  type  of 
life.  "  Know  that  the  life  in  your  body  and  the  fire  on 
your  hearth  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  and  that  both 
proceed  from  one  source,"  said  a  Shawnee  prophet." 
Such  an  expression  was  wholly  in  the  spirit  of  his  race. 
The  greatest  feast  of  the  Delawares  was  that  to  their 
"grandfather,  the  fire."3  "Their  fire  burns  forever," 
was  the  Algonkin.  figure  of  speech  to  express  the  im- 
mortality of  their  gods.*  "  The  ancient  God,  the  Father 
and  Mother  of  all  Gods,"  says  an  Aztec  prayer,  "  is  the 
God  of  the  Fire  which  is  in  the  centre  of  the  court  with 
four  walls,  and  which  is  covered  with  gleaming  feathers 
like  unto  wings  ;"  dark  sayings  of  the  priests,  referring 
to  the  glittering  lightning  fire  borne  from  the  sides  of 
the  earth.  In  their  rituals  fire  was  named  Tota,  Our 
Father,  and  Huehueteotl,  Oldest  of  Gods;  the  infant 
passed  through  a  baptism  of  fire  on  the  fourth  day  of 
its  life,  up  to  which  time  a  fire  lighted  at  its  birth  was 
kept  alive  in  order  to  nourish  its  life.5 

As  the  path  to  a  higher  life  hereafter,  the  burning  of 
the  dead  was  first  instituted.  It  was  a  privilege  usually 
confined  to  a  select  few.  Among  the  Algonkin-Otta- 

1  Emory,  Milt'y  Reconnaissance  of  New  Mexico,  p.  30. 

*  Narrative  of  John  Tanner,  p.  161. 

3  Loskiel,  Ges.  der  Miss,  der  evang.  Briider,  p.  55. 

*  Nar.  of  John  Tanner,  p.  351. 

5  Sahagun,  Hist.  Nueva  Espana,  lib.  vi.  cap.  4 ;  Jacinto  de  la 
Serna,  Manual  de  Ministros,  pp.  16,  24,  etc.  ;  Brinton's  Nagualism, 
pp.  43-46,  etc. 


170       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

was,  only  those  of  the  distinguished  totem  of  the  Great 
Hare,  among  the  Nicaraguans  none  but  the  caciques, 
among  the  Caribs  exclusively  the  priestly  caste  were  en- 
titled to  this  peculiar  honor.1  The  first  gave  as  a  reason 
for  such  an  exceptional  custom,  that  the  members  of  so 
illustrious  a  clan  as  that  of  Michabo,  the  Great  Hare, 
should  not  rot  in  the  ground  as  common  folks,  but  rise 
to  the  heavens  on  the  flames  and  smoke. 

Those  of  Nicaragua  seemed  to  think  it  the  sole  path 
to  immortality,  holding  that  only  such  as  offered  them- 
selves on  the  pyre  of  their  chieftain  would  escape  anni- 
hilation at  death  ;2  and  the  tribes  of  Upper  California 
were  persuaded  that  such  as  were  not  burned  at  death 
were  liable  to  be  transformed  into  the  lower  orders  of 
brutes.8  Strangely  enough  we  thus  find  a  sort  of  bap- 
tism by  fire  deemed  essential  to  a  higher  life  beyond  the 
grave,  as,  among  the  Nahuas,  one  was  for  this. 

Another  analogy  strengthened  the  symbolic  force  of 
fire  as  life.  This  is  that  which  exists  between  the  sen- 
sation of  warmth  and  those  passions  whose  physiologi- 
cal end  is  the  perpetuation  of  the  species.  We  see  how 
native  it  is  to  the  mind  from  such  coarse  expressions  as 
"  hot  lust,"  "  to  burn,"  "  to  be  in  heat,"  "  stews,"  and  the 
like,  figures  not  of  the  poetic,  but  the  vulgar  tongue. 
They  occur  in  all  languages,  and  hint  how  readily  the 
worship  of  fire  glided  into  that  of  the  reproductive 
principle,  into  extravagances  of  chastity  and  lewdness, 
into  the  orgies  of  the  so-called  phallic  worship. 

Some  have  supposed  that  a  sexual  dualism  pervades 
all  natural  religions,  and  this  too  has  been  assumed  as 

1  Letts.  Edifiantes  et  Curieuses,  iv.  p.  104,  Oviedo  ;  Hist,  de  Nicara- 
gua, p.  49  ;  Gomara,  Hist,  dd  Orinoco,  ii.  cap.  2. 

2  Oviedo,  Hist.  Gen.  de  las  Indias,  p.  16,  in  Barcia's  Hist.  Prim. 
1  Presdfs  Message  and  Docs,  for  1851,  pt.  iii.  p.  506. 


SEXUAL  MYTHS.  171 

the  solution  of  all  their  myths.  It  has  been  said  that 
the  action  of  heat  upon  moisture,  of  the  sun  on  the 
waters,  the  mysteries  of  reproduction,  and  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  sexual  instincts,  are  the  unvarying  themes 
of  primitive  mythology.  Like  other  exclusive  theories, 
this  falls  before  comprehensive  criticism ;  and  yet  it  is 
true  that  in  America  as  in  so  many  other  parts  of  the 
globe,  the  notion  of  reciprocal  sexual  action  was  ex- 
tended to  the  ideas  of  the  creation  and  continuance  of 
the  world  about  us. 

There  existed  a  personification  and  deification  of  the 
passions.  Apparently  it  was  grafted  upon  or  rose  out 
of  that  of  fire  by  the  analogy  I  have  pointed  out.  Thus 
the  Mexican  God  of  fire  was  supposed  to  govern  the 
generative  proclivities,1  and  there  is  good  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  the  sacred  fire  watched  by  unspotted  virgins 
among  the  Mayas  had  decidedly  such  a  signification. 
Certainly  it  was  so,  if  we  can  depend  upon  the  authority 
of  a  ballad  translated  from  the  original  immediately 
after  the  conquest,  cited  by  the  venerable  traveller  and 
artist  Count  de  Waldeck.  It  purports  to  be  from  the 
lover  of  one  of  these  vestals,  and  referring  to  her  occu- 
pation asks  with  a  fine  allusion  to  its  mystic  meaning — 

"  O  vierge,  quand  pourrai-je  te  posse"der  pour  ma  compagne 

cherie? 
Combien  de  temps  faut-il  encore  que  tes  vceux  soient  ac- 

complis  ? 

Dis-moi  le  jour  qui  doit  devancer  la  belle  nuit  ou  tons  deux 
Alimenterons  le  feu  qui  nous  fit  naitre  et  que  nous  devons 

perpetuer."3 

There  is  a  bright  as  well  as  dark  side  to  such  a  wor- 
ship. In  Mexico,  Peru,  and  Yucatan,  the  women  who 

1  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espafia,  i.  cap.  13. 

2  Voyage  Pittoresque  dans  le  Yucatan,  p.  49. 


172       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

watched  the  flames  must  be  undoubted  virgins ;  they 
were  usually  of  noble  blood,  and  must  vow  eternal 
chastity,  or  at  least  were  free  to  none  but  the  ruler  of 
the  realm.  As  long  as  they  were  consecrated  to  the 
fire,  so  long  any  carnal  ardor  was  degrading  to  their 
lofty  duties.  In  the  medicine  dances  of  the  Mandans 
only  virgins  were  allowed  to  take  part  (Lewis  and 
Clark). 

Many  of  the  goddesses  were  virgin  deities,  as  the 
Aztec  Coatlicue,  Xochiquetzal,  and  Chimalman ;  and 
many  of  the  great  gods  of  the  race,  as  Quetzalcoatl, 
Manibozho,  Viracocha,  and  loskeha,  were  said  to  have 
been  born  of  a  virgin.  Even  among  the  low  Indians 
of  Paraguay  the  early  missionaries  were  startled  to  find 
this  tradition  of  the  maiden  mother  of  the  god,  so  simi- 
lar to  that  which  they  had  come  to  tell.1 

Celibacy  was  not  unusually  enjoined  upon  the  priest- 
hood, and  complete  restraint  was  often  ordered  during 
religious  ceremonies.  The  medicine  men  of  an  Algon- 
kin  tribe  who  lived  on  the  Hudson  river  were  so  severe 
in  this  respect  that  they  would  not  so  much  as  partake 
of  food  prepared  by  a  married  woman.2  On  the  Rio 
Negro,  Martius  met  a  tribe  whose  priestly  healers  were 
scrupulous  celibates,  because  it  was  believed  that  medi- 
cines would  lose  their  efficacy  if  administered  by  a 
married  man.3  It  is  probably  in  some  obscure  connec- 
tion with  this  belief  that  a  mutilation  analogous  to  cir- 
cumcision was  practiced  among  many  tribes ;  it  was  a 
symbolical  sacrifice  of  sexuality,  a  type  of  the  surren- 
der of  the  passions  to  the  religious  sentiments.* 

1  Lettres  Ed.  et  Curiewes,  vol.  v.  p.  309. 

*  Doc.  Hist,  of  New  York,  vol.  iv.  p.  28. 

3  Von  Martius,  Volkerschaften  Brazilians,  p.  587. 

*  Gumilla  asserts  this  of  tribes  on  the  Orinoco.    Hist.  Orinoco,  p. 


SEXUAL  RITES.  173 

According  to  some  authorities  of  weight,  certain 
classes  of  the  Aztec  priesthood,  doubtless  carrying  out 
the  same  intention,  practiced  complete  abscission  or 
discerption  of  the  virile  parts,  and  a  mutilation  of 
females  was  not  unknown  similar  to  that  which  has 
existed  immemorially  in  Egypt.1 

In  both  sexes  the  period  of  puberty  was  observed 
with  numerous  and  solemn  religious  ceremonies,  of 
which  fasting,  solitude  and  seclusion  were  prominent 
features.  At  that  time  in  many  tribes  the  youth  or  girl 
was  believed  to  receive  the  personal  guardian  spirit, 
which  should  govern  his  or  her  after-life,  and  with  it  a 
new  name  known  only  to  the  family. 

The  woman's  later  career  was  surrounded  with  semi- 
religious  observances.  She  was  considered  unclean  dur- 
ing her  recurrent  illnesses  and  in  some  tribes,  as  the  Bri- 
bri  of  Costa  Rica,  also  during  pregnancy.  "  She  is  sup- 
posed," writes  Mr.  Gabb,  "  at  that  time  to  infect  the  whole 
neighborhood.  All  the  deaths  and  misfortunes  in  the 
vicinity  are  laid  to  her  charge."2  Among  the  Ottawas  of 
the  north,  the  Cunas  of  Darien,  and  various  other  tribes, 
childbirth  was  regarded  as  especially  dangerous  to  the 
husband,  and  either  he  or  she  must  keep  away  from  the 
marital  abode  until  a  period  of  purification  had  passed. 

Among  the  Mbocobis  of  Paraguay  he  must  fast  rigor- 
ously for  fifteen  days  after  her  confinement,  and  pass 
the  time  in  seclusion.3 

119  ;  Coreal  of  Mcaraguans  and  Yucatecans,  Voiages,  i.,  pp.  73,  291; 
Garcia  of  the  Guaycurus,  Or.  de  los  Indios,  p.  124  ;  Mackenzie  of 
the  Hares  and  Dogribs,  Voyage,  p.  27  ;  etc. 

1  Davilla  Padilla,  Hist,  de  la  Prov.  de  Santiago  de  Mexico,  lib.  ii. 
cap.   88  (Brusselas,  1625);   Palacios,  Des.  de,  Guatemala,  p.   40; 
Garcia,  Or.  de  los  Indios,  p.  124. 

2  Gabb,  Indian  Tribes  of  Costa  Rica,  p.  505. 

3  Perrot,  Mem.  deTAmer.  Sept.,  p.  12  (1665);  Oviedo,  Hist  de  las 


174       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

Some  such  notion  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  extraor- 
dinary custom  of  the  couvade.  This  was,  that  when  the 
wife  was  delivered  of  the  child,  the  husband  took  to  his 
bed,  and  was  waited  upon  and  treated  as  if  he  had  been 
the  sick  one.  He  must  there  remain  either  a  specified 
time,  four  or  eight  days,  or  until  the  navel  string  falls. 
Were  he  to  fail  in  this,  death  or  some  disaster  would 
befall  the  infant,  with  whom,  in  the  native  imagination, 
he  is  linked  by  mysterious  bonds.1 

The  mystery  which  surrounds  the  process  of  repro- 
duction centred  more  in  the  female  than  in  the  male. 
It  was  believed  she  could  impart  it  even  to  inanimate 
things.  When  Father  Gumilla  asked  the  men  of  an 
Orinoco  tribe  why  they  did  not  help  the  women  in  the 
labors  of  the  field,  they  replied :  "  Because  women  know 
how  to  bring  forth  and  can  tell  it  to  the  grain ;  but  we 
do  not  know  how  they  do  it,  and  we  cannot  teach  the 
grains."  The  wife  of  a  Sioux,  after  she  has  planted 
her  corn  patch,  will  rise  in  the  night,  strip  herself 
naked  and  walk  around  it.  thus  to  impart  to  the  grains 
the  magic  of  her  own  fecundity.  The  Pawnees  were 
wont  to  moisten  their  seed  corn  with  the  blood  of  a 
woman,  choosing  a  female  prisoner  to  supply  it.2 

As  a  counterpart  to  the  occasional  austerities  above 
mentioned,  there  was  frequent  unbridled  licentiousness 

Indias,  lib.  xvii. ,  cap.  4 ;  Navarrete,  Viages,  iii. ,  p.  414 ;  Guevara, 
Hist,  dd  Paraguay,  cap.  viii. 

1  The  latest  and  most  satisfactory  discussion  of  the  couvade  is  by 
von  den  Steinen  in  his  Naturvolk&r  Zentral-Brasiliens,  p.  334  (1894). 
It  was  not  confined  to  South  America,  Vetancurt  describes  it  in 
full  force  among  the  Indians  of  Parras,  in  the  State  of  Coahuila 
(Teatro  Mericano,  i.,  p.  417). 

*  Gumilla,  Hist.  Orinoco,  ii.,  p.  237 ;  Schoolcraft,  Indian  Tribes, 
vol.  v.,  p.  70  ;  ibid.  Oneota,  p.  20. 


PHALLIC  WORSHIP.  175 

in  the  religious  ceremonies.  Orgies  of  this  nature  were 
of  common  occurrence  among  the  Algonkins  and  Iro- 
quois,  and  are  often  mentioned  in  the  Jesuit  relations  ; 
Venegas  describes  them  as  frequent  among  the  tribes 
of  Lower  California ;  and  Oviedo  refers  to  certain  festi- 
vals among  the  Nicaraguans,  during  which  the  women 
of  all  rank  extended  to  whosoever  wished,  such  privi- 
leges as  the  matrons  of  ancient  Babylon  used  to  grant 
even  to  slaves  and  strangers  in  the  temple  of  Melitta,  as 
one  of  the  duties  of  religion.  In  the  esoteric  cult  of 
Nagualism,  which  prevails  widely  to-day  in  Mexico 
and  Central  America,  men  and  women  join  in  the 
dances  in  a  state  of  nudity,  and  the  Christian  priests 
claim  with  probability  that  these  rites  terminate  in 
wild  debauches.1 

This  sensual  coarseness  extended  to  their  stories  and 
poetry,  and  the  early  missionaries  complained  with  jus- 
tice of  the  "  lascivious  songs  and  indecent  dances  "  (can- 
tares  lascivos  y  bailes  indecentes),  which  in  some  tribes  were 
instituted  by  the  native  priests  as  ceremonies  of  religion.8 
Collectors  of  Indian  stories  and  myths  to-day  well 
know  that  it  is  rarely  possible  to  print  these  in  the 
terms  in  which  they  are  told  around  the  camp  fire. 
They  must  undergo  a  rigid  expurgation. 

Such  excesses  passed  at  times  into  the  ceremonial 
practice  of  unnatural  vices,  examples  of  which  we  find 
in  abundance  among  the  Pueblo  Indians  of  Arizona, 
the  natives  of  Paraguay,  the  ancient  Floridians,  the 
Guaycurus  of  Brazil,  and  elsewhere.3  These  artificial 

1  Brinton,  Nagualism,  p.  49. 

2  Guevara,  Hist,  del  Paraguay,  cap.  xi. 

3  Von  Martius,  Ethnog.  und  Sprach,  Amerikas,  p.  75,  gives  many 
references.     It  has  also  been  discussed  by  Dr.  Wm.  A.  Hammond 
and  other  American  writers. 


176       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

hermaphrodites  are  repeatedly  mentioned  by  the  early 
writers,  and  their  continued  presence  in  several  of  our 
western  tribes  has  been  noted  by  living  observers. 

Doubtless  in  many  instances  such  sensuality  as  re- 
ferred to  was  cultivated  merely  under  the  guise  of  re- 
ligion by  those  who  profited  by  it;  for  example,  the  jus 
primes  noctis,  claimed  by  the  shamans  among  various 
Brazilian  tribes  and  still  conceded  among  the  Tarahu- 
maras  of  Northern  Mexico  (Lurnholtz).  Although  it 
is  quite  possible  that  this  custom  arose  from  a  supersti- 
tious fear  that  the  husband  would  come  to  some  ill 
luck  unless  his  bride  yielded  herself  first  to  another, 
a  notion  not  at  all  uncommon  in  the  religions  of  the 
old  world,  and  asserted  to  have  prevailed  among  the 
Caribs  and  Tupis  and  various  tribes  of  Cuba  and  Nica- 
ragua. Among  the  Mundrucus  and  Guaycurus  of  Bra- 
zil, the  bridegroom  remained  in  an  adjacent  lodge 
under  arms  all  night.1 

The  mystery  that  surrounds  the  shedding  of  blood 
as  the  first  step  toward  the  creation  of  a  new  life,  was 
one  which  the  world  over  impressed  the  imagination 
of  the  primitive  man.  It  was  the  physical  sign  of 
crossing  the  threshold  into  new  and  strange  activities ; 
and  hence  in  a  thousand  modes  it  became  intertwined 
with  the  symbolism  of  his  house  and  his  home  and  his 
pledges  of  faith  to  God  and  man.2 

The  emblem  of  the  phallus  with  ceremonial  associa- 
tions has  been  observed  in  various  parts  of  America. 
The  women  of  a  tribe  in  Paraguay  carried  an  image  of 

1  Martius,  u.  s.  p.  113  ;  Navarrete,  Vidges,  iii.  p.   114 ;  Oviedo, 
Hist,  cfe  las  Jndias,  Lib.  xvii. 

2  See  the  full  and  learned  study  of  this  subject  by  Dr.  Henry 
Clay  Trumbull,  The  Threshold  Convenant  (New  York,  1896) ;  also  H. 
L.  Strack,  Der  Ulutaberglaube  (Munich,  1892). 


PHALLIC  WORSHIP.  177 

it  as  an  amulet  j1  the  soldiers  of  Cortes  noted  it  in  relief 
on  the  walls  of  the  temples  in  Panuco ;  and  other  in- 
stances could  be  quoted.  In  native  American  art  it 
frequently  recurs  in  relations  which  authorize  us  to 
believe  that  it  bore  a  religious  meaning  and  was  con- 
nected with  the  recognition  and  adoration  of  the  repro- 
ductive principle  in  nature.  Designs  carved  in  stone 
or  baked  in  terra  cotta  have  been  disinterred  from  the 
ancient  graves  in  the  lower  Mississippi  valley,  Florida, 
Michoacan,  Tabasco,  Peru  and  elsewhere.2  It  is  probable 
that  its  burial  with  the  corpse  referred  to  an  expectation 
of  another  life  hereafter. 

Huge  phalli  of  stone  in  the  shape  of  pillars  have 
been  discovered  among  the  ancient  ruins  of  Mexico  and 
Yucatan,  and  the  early  interpreters  of  Mexican  picto- 
graphic  manuscripts  inform  us  that  in  the  symbols 
employed  for  divination,  this  was  esteemed  to  be  the 
most  potent  of  all.  As  in  the  analogous  rituals  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  we  have  evidence  that  in  America 
also  this  emblem  was  correlated  or  identified  with  the 
serpent.* 

The  dual  division  of  the  gods  into  male  and  female 
obtained  in  America  as  it  does  in  polytheisms  every- 
where ;  but  it  is  noteworthy  how  frequently  we  come 
upon  bisexual  or  androgynous  deities,  those  who  com- 
bine in  themselves  the  functions  of  both  sexes.  Such 
in  Aztec  myth  is  Tonacatecutli,  God  of  our  Life  or  Flesh. 
Such  in  the  creation  myths  of  the  Zufiis  is  Awonawi- 
lona,  the  Maker  and  Container  of  all,  among  the  Nava- 

1  Lafitau,  Meurs  des  Americains,  p.  72,  quoting  Father  Ruis. 

1  Theobert  Maler  and  Andree  in  Globus,  1896  ;  Butt,  de  la  Soc. 
tfAnthrop.  de  Paris,  1893  ;  G.  Tarayre,  Explor.  des  Reg.  Mex.,  p.  233. 

8  Pedro  de  los  Eios,    Codex  Vaticanus;   Boban,   Cat.  de  la  Cott. 
Goupil,  Tom.  ii.  p.  207  ;  Brinton,  Ndgualism,  pp.  49-50. 
12 


178       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

jos  Ahsonnutli,  "  the  turquoise  hermaphrodite,"  and 
such  among  the  Quiches  was  Hun  Ahpu,  the  Master  of 
Magic,  all  of  them  demiurgic  deities  of  the  prime,  self- 
evolving,  "  self-begetting  "  "  doubly  all-mother  and 
doubly  all-father,"  in  the  words  of  the  Quiche  myth ;' 
and  various  examples  could  be  quoted  from  tribes  in 
more  primitive  conditions. 

This  is  not  peculiar  to  the  New  World.  Many  of  the 
gods  of  the  orient  are  either  epicene,  or  androgynous. 
Such  avowedly  were  Mithras,  Janus,  Brahma  and,  in 
the  esoteric  doctrine  of  the  cabala,  Jehovah.  This  no- 
tion is  not  abnormal  or  monstrous.  It  is  a  natural  de- 
velopment of  deep  religious  meditation  on  the  nature 
of  the  first  cause.  "  There  is  something,"  observed 
Wilhelm  von  Humboldt,  "  in  the  traits  of  the  divine 
which  is  opposed  to  the  full  and  clear  expression  of 
sexual  attributes."  As  I  have  remarked  in  another 
work:  "The  gods  are  spirits,  beings  of  another  order 
from  man,  and  the  cultivated  ethical  and  sesthetic  emo- 
tions protest  against  classifying  them  as  of  either  one 
or  the  other  gender.  Never  can  the  ideal  of  beauty, 
either  physical  or  moral,  be  reached  until  the  charac- 
teristics of  sex  are  lost  in  the  concept  of  the  purely 
human."2 

The  traits  and  activities  of  the  two  sexes  as  repre- 
sented in  the  deities  which  appear  in  American  myths 
offer  many  curious  subjects  for  investigation.  The 
prominence  and  potency  assigned  to  the  female  divini- 
ties are  very  noticeable,  whether  their  power  tends 
toward  the  benefit  or  the  injury  of  man.  The  goddess 

1  F.  H.  Gushing,  ZuHi  Creation  Myths,  p.  281 ;  the  Popol  Vuh, 
p.  1  ;  James  Stevenson,  in  8th  An.  Eep.  Bur.  Eth.,  p.  275. 

*  W.  v.  Humboldt,  in  his  essay  Ueber  die  Manrdiche  und  Weibliche 
Form  (Werke,  i.);  Brinton,  The  Religious  Sentiment,  p.  67. 


WOMAN  IN  MYTHOLOGY.  179 

Tonantzin,  Our  Dear  Mother,  was  the  most  widely  loved 
of  Nahuatl  divinities,  and  it  is  because  her  mantle  fell 
upon  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe,  that  the  latter  now  can 
boast  of  the  most  popular  shrine  in  Mexico.  When 
Cortes  first  explored  Acalan,  the  modern  Tabasco,  he 
found  the  chief  temple  of  their  greatest  town  dedicated 
to  a  goddess,  not  to  a  god ;  and  the  Isla  de  las  Mugeres, 
off  the  coast  of  Yucatan,  was  so  named  because  all  its 
fanes  were  sacred  to  female  deities. 

Nothing  I  have  found,  however,  better  illustrates  the 
high  position  of  woman  in  the  mythologies  of  these 
cultivated  nations  than  the  myths  of  the  Tzentals,  a 
Mayan  tribe  who  lived  and  still  live  in  the  Mexican 
State  of  Chiapas,  At  the  summit  of  their  Olympus 
stood  the  male  god  Patol,  whose  name,  from  the  verb 
pat,  means  to  mould,  form  or  fashion.  He  it  was  who 
gave  to  things  their  bodies  or  shapes.  The  highest  of 
the  goddesses,  his  spouse  and  helper,  was  Alaghom 
Naom,  literally, "  she  who  brings  forth  mind."  To  her 
was  due  the  mental  or  immaterial  part  of  nature ;  hence 
another  of  her  names  was  Iztat  Ix,  the  Mother  of 
Wisdom.1 

Almost  equal  to  this  spirituel  myth  of  the  Tzentals 
in  the  lofty  position  assigned  to  woman,  was  that  of 
the  Tarascas  of  Mechoacan,  a  nation  ranking  high 
among  those  which  merited  the  epithet  of  "  civilized." 
Their  chief  goddess  was  named  in  their  harmonious 
tongue  Cueravaperi.  "She  was  held  in  high  esteem 
throughout  this  whole  province,  and  was  constantly 
mentioned  in  their  legends  and  orations.  They  spoke 
of  her  as  mother  of  all  the  gods  and  of  men  as  well, 
saying  that  it  was  she  who  sent  them  to  dwell  in  their 

1  Domingo  de  Ara,  Vocabulario  de  la  Lengua  Tzeltal,  MS. 


180       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

lands  and  gave  them  the  grains  and  seeds  which  they 
cultivated."  In  the  latter  rdle,  as  another  Ceres,  she 
was  the  goddess  of  the  rains,  the  springs  and  the 
waters.  Four  attendant  goddesses  (the  spirits  of  the 
cardinal  points)  waited  upon  her,  and  to  stand  for 
these  at  her  festivals,  four  priests  were  clad  in  the  sym- 
bolic hues,  white,  yellow,  red  and  black,  "to  represent 
the  four  colors  of  the  clouds,"  which  she  sent  forth 
from  her  dwelling  place  in  the  east.1 

From  a  far  distant  locality,  from  the  bleak  shores  of 
Greenland  and  Labrador,  we  may  take  a  goddess-myth 
not  less  striking  and  beautiful.  It  tells  of  Sedna,  a 
divine  woman,  the  supreme  being  of  the  Eskimo  people, 
creator  of  all  things  having  life,  protecting  divinity  of 
their  tribes.  She  established  the  regulations  for  the 
purity  of  women,  and  punishes  them  with  disease  if 
they  are  negligent.  In  another  capacity  she  is  mistress 
of  one  of  the  underworlds,  where  she  lies  in  wait  for 
souls ;  and  she  it  is,  when  the  wintry  storms  hurl  the 
ice  masses  against  the  rocky  shores,  who  screams  in  the 
blast,  and  watches  to  snatch  the  unwary  seal-hunter  to 
her  murk  abode.2 

It  was  said  of  the  Tarascan  goddess  that  she  was  not 
averse  to  human  sacrifices,  and  that  the  blood  of  vic- 
tims was  cast  into  the  springs  sacred  to  her  cult :  but 
precisely  the  opposite  is  recorded  of  the  goddess  who 
occupied  a  similar  lofty  position  in  the  religion  of  the 
Totonacos,  a  civilized  tribe  who  lived  near  where  Vera 
Cruz  now  is.  The  name  that  was  applied  to  her  meant 
"  The  Sustainer  of  our  Life,"  and  her  attributes  were 

1  Relation  de  bs  Ritos  de  Mechoacan,   in  Coll.  de  Doc.  para  la 
Hist,  de  EspaSa,  vol.  53. 

2  Dr.  Franz  Boas,  The  Central  Eskimo,  in  6th  An.  Rep.  Bur.  of 
Ethnol.,  pp.  583  sqq. 


THE  RECIPROCAL  PRINCIPLE.  181 

similar  to  the  Ceres  of  Michoacan ;  but  no  human  sac- 
rifices were  allowed  in  her  temples,  and  her  priests 
were  vowed  to  chastity,  simplicity  of  life,  silence  unless 
addressed,  and  an  exclusively  vegetarian  diet.  Her 
shrines  were  built  on  the  summits  of  hills,  and  so 
closely  did  her  sweet  and  merciful  ritual  parallel  that 
assigned  by  the  Roman  Church  to  the  Virgin  Mary, 
that  the  early  missionaries  declared  that  it  could  have 
been  inspired  only  by  the  Devil  with  the  intent  of  foil- 
ing their  labors.1 

By  a  flight  of  fancy  inspired  by  a  study  of  Oriental 
mythology,  the  worship  of  the  reciprocal  principle  in 
America  has  been  connected  with  that  of  the  sun  and 
the  moon,  as  the  primitive  pair  from  whose  fecund 
union  all  creatures  proceeded.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  this  relation  is  rarely  and  vaguely  expressed  in 
the  myths,  and  in  many  instances  is  inconsistent  with 
the  terms  employed  to  designate  these  celestial  bodies. 
The  moon  is  often  mentioned  in  their  languages  merely 
as  the  "  night  sun."  Among  the  Mbocobis  of  Paraguay 
the  sun  was  styled  the  female  companion,  companera, 
of  the  moon.2  In  such  important  stocks  as  the  Iro- 
quois,  Athapascas,  Cherokees  and  Tupis,  the  sun  is 
also  said  to  be  regarded  as  feminine.  The  myths  rep- 
resent them  more  frequently  as  brother  and  sister 
than  as  man  and  wife ;  nor  did  at  least  the  northern 
tribes  regard  the  sun  as  the  cause  of  fecundity  in 
nature  at  all,  but  solely  as  giving  light  and  warmth.8 

Almost  racial  in  its  universality  was  the  red  man's 
veneration  of  the  THUNDER-STORM  as  a  manifestation 

1  Mendieta,  Hist.    Edesiastica  Indiana,    lib.   ii.    cap.    ix.;    Las 
Casas,  Hist.  Apologetica,  cap.  121. 

2  P.  Guevara,  Hist,  del  Paraguay,  cap.  xv. 

3  Schoolcraft,  Indian  Tribes,  v.  pp.  416,  417. 


182       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

of  divine  power  and  as  that  which  brings  warmth  and 
rain  with  the  renewed  vernal  life  of  vegetation.  The 
impressive  phenomena  which  characterize  it,  the  pro- 
digious noise,  the  awful  flash,  the  portentous  gloom, 
the  blast,  the  rain,  have  left  a  profound  impression  on 
the  myths  of  every  land.  Fire  from  water,  warmth  and 
moisture  from  the  destructive  breath  of  the  tempest, 
this  was  the  riddle  of  riddles  to  the  untutored  mind. 
"  Out  of  the  eater  came  forth  meat,  out  of  the  strong 
came  forth  sweetness."  It  was  the  visible  synthesis  of 
all  the  divine  manifestations,  the  winds,  the  waters,  and 
the  flames. 

The  Dakotas  conceived  it  as  a  struggle  between  the 
god  of  waters  and  the  thunder  bird  for  the  command 
of  their  nation;1  and  as  a  bird,  one  of  those  which 
make  a  whirring  sound  with  their  wings,  the  turkey, 
the  pheasant,  or  the  nighthawk,  it  was  very  generally 
depicted  by  their  neighbors,  the  Athapascas,  the  Iro- 
quois,  and  Algonquins.2  As  the  herald  of  the  summer 
it  was  to  them  a  good  omen,  and  friendly  power.  It  was 
the  voice  of  the  Great  Spirit  ot  the  four  winds  speak- 
ing from  the  clouds  and  admonishing  them  that  the 
time  of  corn  planting  was  at  hand.8 

The  flames  kindled  by  the  lightning  were  of  a  sacred 
nature,  properly  to  be  employed  in  lighting  the  fires  of 
the  religious  rites,  but  on  no  account  to  be  profaned  by 
the  base  uses  of  daily  life.  When  the  flash  entered  the 

i  Mrs.  Eastman,  Legends  of  the  Sioux,  p.  161. 

*  Ed.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1634,  p.  27 ;  Schoolcraft,  Algic  Re- 
searches, ii.  p.  116 ;  Ind.  Tribes,  v.  p.  420 ;  an  article  by  A.  F. 
Chamberlain  on  "the  thunder  bird  among  the  Algoukins "  is  in 
Amer.  Anthropologist,  Jan.  1890. 

8  De  Smet,  Western  Missions,  p.  135  ;  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  i. 
p.  319. 


THUNDER-MYTHS.  183 

ground  it  scattered  in  all  directions  those  stones,  such 
as  the  flint,  which  betray  their  supernal  origin  by  a 
gleam  of  fire  when  struck.  These  were  the  thunder- 
bolts, and  from  such  an  one,  significantly  painted  red, 
the  Dakotas  averred  their  race  proceeded.1  For  are  we 
not  all  in  a  sense  indebted  for  our  lives  to  fire  ? 

"  There  is  no  end  to  the  fancies  entertained  by  the 
Sioux  concerning  thunder,"  observes  Mrs.  Eastman. 
They  typified  the  paradoxical  nature  of  the  storm  un- 
der the  character  of  the  giant  Haokah.  To  him  cold 
was  heat,  and  heat  cold ;  when  sad  he  laughed,  when 
merry  groaned ;  the  sides  of  his  face  and  his  eyes  were 
of  different  colors  and  expressions  ;  he  wore  horns  or  a 
forked  headdress  to  represent  the  lightning,  and  with 
his  hands  he  hurled  the  meteors.  His  manifestations 
were  fourfold,  and  one  of  the  four  winds  was  the  drum- 
stick he  used  to  produce  the  thunder.2 

Omitting  many  others,  enough  that  the  sameness  of 
this  conception  is  illustrated  by  the  myth  of  Tupa, 
highest  god  and  first  man  of  the  Tupis  of  Brazil.  Dur- 
ing his  incarnation,  he  taught  them  agriculture,  gave 
them  fire,  the  cane,  and  the  pisang,  and  now  in  the 
form  of  a  huge  bird  sweeps  over  the  heavens,  watching 
his  children  and  watering  their  crops,  admonishing 
them  of  his  presence  by  the  mighty  sound  of  his  voice, 
the  rustling  of  his  wings,  and  the  flash  of  his  eye. 
These  are  the  thunder,  the  lightning,  and  the  roar  of 

1  Mrs.  Eastman,  Legends  of  the  Sioux,  p.  72.  By  another  legend 
they  claimed  that  their  first  ancestor  obtained  his  fire  from  the 
sparks  which  a  friendly  panther  struck  from  the  rocks  as  he  scam- 
pered up  a  stony  hill  (McCoy,  Hist,  of  Baptist  Indian  Missions, 
p.  364). 

*  Mrs.  Eastman,  ubi  sup.,  p.  158;  Schoolcraft,  Tnd.  Tribes,  iv. 
p.  645. 


184       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

the  tempest.  He  is  depicted  with  horns  ;  he  was  one  of 
four  brothers,  and  only  after  a  desperate  struggle  did  he 
drive  his  fraternal  rivals  from  the  field.  In  his  worship, 
the  priests  place  pebbles  in  a  dry  gourd,  deck  it  with 
feathers  and  arrows,  and  rattling  it  vigorously,  repro- 
duce in  miniature  the  tremendous  drama  of  the  storm.1 
As  nations  rose  in  civilization  these  fancies  put  on 
a  more  complex  form  and  a  more  poetic  fulness. 
Throughout  the  realm  of  the  Incas  the  Peruvians  vene- 
rated as  creator  of  all  things,  maker  of  heaven  and 
earth,  and  ruler  of  the  firmament,  the  god  Ataguju. 
The  legend  was  that  from  him  proceeded  the  first  of 
mortals,  the  man  Guamansuri,  who  descended  to  the 
earth  and  there  seduced  the  sister  of  certain  Guache- 
mines,  rayless  ones,  or  Darklings,  who  then  possessed 
it.  For  this  crime  they  destroyed  him,  but  their  sister 
proved  pregnant,  and  died  in  her  labor,  giving  birth  to 


From  these  emerged  the  twin  brothers,  Apocatequil 
and  Piguerao.  The  former  was  the  more  powerful.  By 
touching  the  corpse  of  his  mother  he  brought  her  to 
life,  he  drove  off  and  slew  the  Guachemines,  and, 
directed  by  Ataguju,  released  the  race  of  Indians  from 
the  soil  by  turning  it  up  with  a  spade  of  gold.  For 
this  reason  they  adored  him  as  their  maker.  He  it  was, 
they  thought,  who  produced  the  thunder  and  the  light- 
ning by  hurling  stones  with  his  sling ;  and  the  thunder- 
bolts that  fall,  said  they,  are  his  children. 

1  Waitz,  Anthropologie,  iii.  p.  417  ;  Mailer,  Am.  Urrdig.,  p.  271, 
from  various  early  authorities.  Tupa  was  distinctly  the  god  of 
the  thunderstorm  and  the  word  is  still  so  applied  in  the  Tupi  dia- 
lects (Adam,  Gi-ammaire  Tupi,  1895).  As  the  rain-god,  it  was  he, 
Baid  the  Guaranis,  who  saved  their  ancestors  in  the  universal 
deluge  (Guevara,  Hist,  dd  Paraguay,  cap.  xix.) 


SACRED  TWINS.  185 

Few  villages  were  willing  to  be  without  one  or  more 
of  these.  They  were  in  appearance  small,  round, 
smooth  stones,  but  had  the  admirable  properties  of 
securing  fertility  to  the  fields,  protecting  from  lightning, 
and,  by  a  transition  easy  to  understand,  were  also 
adored  as  gods  of  the  Fire,  as  well  material  as  of  the 
passions,  and  were  capable  of  kindling  the  dangerous 
flames  of  desire  in  the  most  frigid  bosom.  Therefore 
they  were  in  great  esteem  as  love  charms. 

Apocatequil's  statue  was  erected  on  the  mountains, 
with  that  of  his  mother  on  one  hand,  and  his  brother 
on  the  other.  "  He  was  Prince  of  Evil  and  the  most 
respected  god  of  the  Peruvians.  From  Quito  to  Cuzco 
not  an  Indian  but  would  give  all  he  possessed  to  con- 
ciliate him.  Five  priests,  two  stewards,  and  a  crowd 
of  slaves  served  his  image.  And  his  chief  temple  was 
surrounded  by  a  very  considerable  village  whose  inhab- 
itants had  no  other  occupation  than  to  wait  on  him." 

In  memory  of  these  brothers,  twins  in  Peru  were 
deemed  always  sacred  to  the  lightning,  and  when  a 
woman  or  even  a  llama  brought  them  forth,  a  fast  was 
held  and  sacrifices  offered  to  the  two  pristine  brothers, 
with  a  chant  commencing  :  A  chuchu  cachiqui,  "  0  Thou 
who  causest  twins,"  words  mistaken  by  the  Spaniards 
for  the  name  of  a  deity.1 

1  On  the  myth  of  Catequil  see  particularly  the  Lettre  sur  les 
Superstitions  du  Perou,  p.  95  sqq. ,  and  compare  Montesinos,  Aneien 
Perou,  chaps,  ii. ,  xx.  The  letters  g  and  j  do  not  exist  in  Quichua, 
therefore  Ataguja  should  doubtless  read  Ata-ckuchu,  which  means 
lord,  or  ruler  of  the  twins,  from  ati  root  of  atini,  I  am  able,  I  con- 
trol, and  chuchu,  twins.  The  change  of  the  root  ati  to  ata,  though 
uncommon  in  Quichua,  occurs  also  in  atahualpa,  cock,  from  ati  and 
hualpa,  fowl.  Apo-Catequil,  or  as  given  by  Arriaga,  another  old 
writer  on  Peruvian  idolatry,  Apocatequilla,  I  take  to  be  properly 


186       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  a  descendant  of  the  Incas,  has 
preserved  an  ancient  indigenous  poem  of  his  nation, 
presenting  the  storm  myth  in  a  different  form,  which 
as  undoubtedly  authentic  and  not  devoid  of  poetic 
beauty  I  translate,  preserving  as  much  as  possible  the 
trochaic  tetrasyllable  verse  of  the  original  Quichua : — 

"Beauteous  princess, 
Lo,  thy  brother 
Breaks  thy  vessel 
Now  in  fragments. 
From  the  blow  come 
Thunder,  lightning, 
Strokes  of  lightning. 
And  thou,  princess, 
Tak'st  the  water, 
With  it  rainest, 
And  the  hail,  or 
Snow  dispensest, 
Viracocha, 
World  constructor, 

apu-ccatec-quilla,  which  literally  means  chief  of  the  followers  of  the 
moon.  Acosta  mentions  that  the  native  name  for  various  constella- 
tions was  catachUlay  or  catuchittay,  doubtless  corruptions  of  catec 
quitta,  literally  "following  the  moon."  Catequil,  therefore,  the 
dark  spirit  of  the  storm  rack,  was  also  appropriately  enough,  and 
perhaps  primarily,  lord  of  the  night  and  stars.  Piguerao,  where 
the  g  appears  again,  is  probably  a  compound  of  piscu,  bird,  and 
uira,  white.  Guachemines  seems  clearly  the  word  hauchi,  a  ray 
of  light  or  an  arrow,  with  the  negative  suffix  ymana,  thus  meaning 
rayless,  as  in  the  text,  or  ymana  ma/  mean  an  excess  as  well  as  a 
want  of  anything  beyond  what  is  natural,  which  would  give  the 
signification  "  very  bright  shining."  (Holguin,  Arte  de  la  Lengua 
QuichiM,  p.  106  :  Cuzco,  1607.)  Is  this  sister  of  theirs  the  Dawn, 
who,  as  in  the  Big  Veda,  brings  forth  at  the  cost  of  her  own  life 
the  white  and  dark  twins,  the  Day  and  the  Night,  the  latter  of 
whom  drives  from  the  heavens  the  far-shooting  arrows  of  light, 
in  order  that  he  may  restore  hie  mother  again  to  life? 


NATIVE  TRINITY.  187 

World  enliv'ner, 
To  this  office 
Thee  appointed, 
Thee  created."1 


In  this  pretty  waif  that  has  floated  down  to  us  from 
the  wreck  of  a  literature  now  forever  lost,  there  is  more 
than  one  point  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  antiquary. 
He  may  find  in  it  a  hint  to  decipher  those  names  of 
divinities  so  common  in  Peruvian  legends,  Contici  and 
Illatici.  Both  mean  "  the  Thunder  Vase,"  and  both 
doubtless  refer  to  the  conception  here  displayed  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  thunder-storm.* 

Again,  twice  in  this  poem  is  the  triple  nature  of  the 
storm  adverted  to.  This  is  observable  in  many  of  the 
religions  of  America.  It  constitutes  a  sort  of  Trinity, 
not  resembling  that  of  Christianity,  nor  yet  the  Tri- 
murti  of  India,  but  doubtless  founded  on  the  same 
psychic  laws.  Thus  in  the  Quiche  legends  we  read : 
"  The  first  of  Hurakan  is  the  lightning,  the  second  the 
track  of  the  lightning,  and  the  third  the  stroke  of  the 

1  Hist,  des  Incas,  liv.  ii.  cap.  28.    It  is  repeated,  with  correc- 
tions, in  the  works  of  Von  Tschudi  and  Middendorf. 

2  The  latter  is  a  compound  of  tici  or  ticcu,  a  vase,  and  ytta,  the 
root  of  yUani,  to  shine,  yllupantac,  it  thunders  and  lightens.     The 
former  is  from  tici  and  cun  or  con,  whence  by  reduplication  cun- 
un-un-an,  it  thunders.     From  cun  and  tura,  brother,   is  probably 
derived  cuntur,  the  condor,  the  flying  thunder-cloud  being  looked 
upon  as  a  great  bird  also.     Von  Tschudi,  in  his  excellent  study 
of  this  Peruvian  myth,  is  not  willing  to  connect  the  deity  Con 
with  the  storm,  the  rain  or  fire,  and  denies  correlation  of  the  word 
to  these  ideas  (Beitr'dge  zur  Kenntniss  des  Alien  Peru,  p.  179).     In 
answer  I  adduce  the  Quichua  words,   cun-pay,  the  crackling  of 
fire,    konoy,    to    build   a  great  fire,    koncha,    the    fire-place,    etc. 
(Middendorf,  Worterbuch  der  Keshua-Sprache) . 


188       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

lightning ;  and  these  three  are  Hurakan,  the  Heart  of 
the  Sky."1 

It  reappears  with  characteristic  uniformity  of  out- 
line in  Iroquois  mythology.  Heno,  the  thunder, 
gathers  the  clouds  and  pours  out  the  warm  rains. 
Therefore  he  was  the  patron  of  husbandry.  He  was 
invoked  at  seed  time  and  harvest ;  and  as  purveyor  of 
nourishment  he  was  addressed  as  grandfather,  and  his 
worshippers  styled  themselves  his  grandchildren.  He 
rode  through  the  heavens  on  the  clouds,  and  the  thun- 
derbolts which  split  the  forest  trees  were  the  stones  he 
hurled  at  his  enemies.  Three  assistants  were  assigned 
him,  whose  names  have  unfortunately  not  been  re- 
corded, and  whose  offices  were  apparently  similar  to 
those  of  the  three  companions  of  Hurakan.2  Among 
the  Tupis  of  Brazil,  according  to  a  careful  student, 
their  highest  mythical  conception  was  of  three  deities, 
the  one  representing  the  animal,  the  second  the  vege- 
table kingdom,  and  the  third  the  productive  union  of 
the  two,  the  god  of  love,  Peruda.3 

So  also  the  Aztecs  supposed  that  Tlaloc,  god  of  rains 
and  the  waters,  ruler  of  the  terrestrial  paradise  and  the 
season  of  summer,  manifested  himself  under  the  three 
attributes  of  the  flash,  the  thunderbolt,  and  the  thun- 
der.4 Among  the  Dakotas,  each  wind  or  world-quar- 
ter was  reckoned  as  three,  making  with  the  sacred 
centre,  thirteen  in  all.5 

i  Le  Livre  Sacre,  p.  9.     The  name  of  the  lightning  in  Quich£ 
is  cak  id  ha,  literally,   "fire  coming  f rom  water. " 
*  Morgan,  League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  158. 

3  Conto  de  Magelhaes,  0  Selvagem,  vol.  ii.  p.  123. 

4  "El  rayo,  el  relampago,  y  el  trueno."     Gama,  Des.  delas  dos 
Piedras,  etc.,  ii.  p.  76.  The sacredness  of  the  three-was  also  retained 
by  the  Nagualists  (Brinton,  Nagwdism,  p.  41). 

6  Dorsey,  Siouan  Cults,  p.  537.    The  Navahos  believe  that  twelve 


THUNDERBOLTS.  189 

But  this  conception  of  three  in  one  was  above  the 
comprehension  of  the  masses,  and  consequently  these 
deities  were  also  spoken  of  as  fourfold  in  nature,  three 
and  one.  Moreover,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out, 
the  thunder  god  was  usually  ruler  of  the  winds,  and  thus 
another  reason  for  his  quadruplicate  nature  was  sug- 
gested. Hurakan,  Haokah,  Tlaloc,  and  probably  Heno, 
are  plural  as  well  as  singular  nouns,  and  are  used  as 
nominatives  to  verbs  in  both  numbers.  Tlaloc  was  ap- 
pealed to  as  inhabiting  each  of  the  cardinal  points  and 
every  mountain  top.  His  statue  rested  on  a  square 
stone  pedestal,  facing  the  east,  and  had  in  one  hand  a 
serpent  of  gold.  Ribbons  of  silver,  crossing  to  form 
squares,  covered  the  robe,  and  the  shield  was  composed 
of  feathers  of  four  colors,  yellow,  green,  red  and  blue. 
Before  it  was  a  vase  containing  all  sorts  of  grain  ;  and 
the  clouds  were  called  his  companions,  the  winds  his 
messengers.1 

As  elsewhere,  the  thunderbolts  were  believed  to  be 
flints,  and  thus,  as  the  emblem  of  fire  and  the  storm, 
this  stone  figures  conspicuously  in  their  myths,  Tohil, 
the  god  who  gave  the  Quiche's  fire  by  shaking  his  san- 
dals, was  represented  by  a  flint-stone.  Such  a  stone, 
in  the  beginning  of  things,  fell  from  heaven  to  earth, 
and  broke  into  1600  pieces,  each  of  which  sprang  up  a 
god  ;2  an  ancient  legend,  which  shadows  forth  the  sub- 
jection of  all  things  to  him  who  gathers  the  clouds 

men  live  at  each  of  the  cardinal  points.  Their  duty  is  to  hold  up 
the  heavens,  to  which  they  were  assigned  by  the  hermaphrodite 
demiurge,  Ahsonnutli  (James  Stevenson,  in  8th  An.  Rep.  Bur.  of 
Ethnol.,  p.  275). 

1  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  lib.  vi.  cap.  23.  Gama,  ubi 
sup.  ii.  76,  77. 

a  Torquemada,  ibid.,  lib.  vi.  cap.  41. 


190       MYTHS  OF  WATER,  FIRE  AND  THUNDER-STORM. 

from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  who  thunders  with 
his  voice,  who  satisfies  with  his  rain  "  the  desolate  and 
waste  ground,  and  causes  the  tender  herb  to  spring 
forth." 

This  is  the  germ  of  the  adoration  of  stones  as  em- 
blems of  the  fecundating  rains.  This  is  why,  for  ex- 
ample, the  Navajos  use  as  their  charm  for  rain  certain 
long  round  stones,  which  they  think  fall  from  the  cloud 
when  it  thunders.1  With  similar  imagery,  the  Chotas 
of  Mexico  continued  to  a  late  day  the  worship  of  their 
trinity,  the  Dawn,  the  Stone,  and  the  Serpent.1 

Mixcoatl,  the  Cloud  Serpent,  or  Iztac-Mixcoatl,  the 
White  or  Gleaming  Cloud  Serpent,  said  to  have  been 
the  only  divinity  of  the  ancient  Chichimecs,  held  in 
high  honor  by.  the  Nahuas,  Nicaraguans,  and  Otomis, 
and  identical  with  Taras,  supreme  god  of  the  Tarascos 
and  Camaxtli,  god  of  the  Teo-Chichimecs,  is  another 
personification  of  the  thunder-storm.  To  this  day  this 
is  the  familiar  name  of  the  tropical  tornado  in  the  Mexi- 
can language.* 

He  was  represented,  like  Jove,  with  a  bundle  of  ar- 
rows in  his  hand,  the  thunderbolts.  Both  the  Nahuas 
and  Tarascos  related  legends  in  which  he  figured  as 
father  of  the  race  of  man.  Like  other  lords  of  the 
lightning  he  was  worshipped  as  the  dispenser  of  riches 
and  the  patron  of  traffic ;  and  in  Nicaragua  his  image 
is  described  as  being  "  engraved  stones,"4  probably  the 
supposed  products  of  the  thunder. 

1  Senate  Report  on  the  Indian  Tribes,  p.  358  (Washington,  1867). 

2  Diccionario  Universal)  App.  Tom.  iii.  p.  11.     Brinton,  Nagual- 
ism,  p.  41. 

s  Brasseur,  Hist,  du  Mexique,  i.  p.  201,  and  on  the  extent  of  hia 
worship  Waitz,  Anthropol. ,  iv.  p.  144. 
4  Oviedo,  Hist,  du  Nicaragua,  p.  47. 


SUPREME  GODS.  191 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  SUPREME   GODS   OP   THE   RED   RACE. 

Analysis  of  American  culture  myths. — The  Manibozho  or  Michabo 
of  the  Algonkins  shown  to  be  an  impersonation  of  LIGHT,  a 
hero  of  the  Dawn,  and  their  highest  deity. — The  myths  of  los- 
keha  of  the  Iroquois,  Viracocha  of  the  Peruvians,  and  Quetzal- 
coatl  of  the  Toltecs  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  Michabo. — 
Other  examples. — Ante-Columbian  prophecies  of  the  advent  of 
a  white  race  from  the  east  as  conquerors. — Eise  of  later  culture 
myths  under  similar  forms. 

rPHE  philosopher  Machiavelli,  commenting  on  the 
•*•  books  of  Livy,  lays  it  down  as  a  general  truth 
that  every  form  and  reform  has  been  brought  about  by 
a  single  individual.  Since  a  remorseless  criticism  has 
shorn  so  many  heroes  of  their  laurels,  our  faith  in  the 
maxim  of  the  great  Florentine  wavers,  and  the  suspicion 
is  created  that  the  popular  fancy  which  personifies  under 
one  figure  every  social  revolution  is  an  illusion.  It 
springs  from  that  tendency  to  hero-worship,  ineradica- 
ble in  the  heart  of  the  race,  which  leads  every  nation 
to  have  an  ideal,  the  imagined  author  of  its  prosperity, 
the  father  of  his  country,  and  the  focus  of  its  legends. 
As  has  been  hinted,  history  is  not  friendly  to  their 
renown,  and  dissipates  them  altogether  into  phantoms 
of  the  brain,  or  sadly  dims  the  lustre  of  their  fame. 
Arthur,  bright  star  of  chivalry,  dwindles  into  a  Welsh 
subaltern ;  the  Cid  Campeador,  defender  of  the  faith, 


192     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  BED  RACE. 

sells  his  sword  as  often  to  Moslem  as  to  Christian,  and 
sells  it  ever;  while  Siegfried  and  Feridun  vanish  into 
nothings. 

As  elsewhere  the  world  over,  so  in  America  many 
tribes  had  to  tell  of  such  a  personage,  some  such  august 
character,  who  taught  them  what  they  knew,  the  tillage 
of  the  soil,  the  properties  of  plants,  the  art  of  picture 
writing,  the  secrets  of  magic ;  who  founded  their  insti- 
tutions and  established  their  religions,  who  governed 
them  long  with  glory  abroad  and  peace  at  home ;  and 
finally,  did  not  die,  but  like  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
Charlemagne,  King  Arthur,  and  all  great  heroes,  van- 
ished mysteriously,  and  still  lives  somewhere,  ready  at 
the  right  moment  to  return  to  his  beloved  people  and 
lead  them  to  victory  and  happiness. 

Such  to  the  Algonkins  was  Michabo  or  Manibozho, 
to  the  Iroquois  loskeha,  Wasi  to  the  Cherokees,  Tamoi 
to  the  Caribs ;  so  the  Mayas  had  Itzamna,  the  Nahuas 
Quetzalcoatl,  the  Muyscas  Nemqueteba;  such  among 
the  Quichuas  was  Viracocha,  among  the  Mandans  Nu- 
mock-muckenah,  among  the  Hidatsa  Itamapisa,  and 
among  the  natives  of  the  Orinoko  Amalivaca ;  and  the 
catalogue  could  be  extended  indefinitely. 

It  is  not  always  easy  to  pronounce  upon  these  heroes, 
whether  they  belong  to  history  or  mythology,  their  na- 
tion's poetry  or  its  prose.  In  arriving  at  a  conclusion 
we  must  remember  that  a  fiction  built  on  an  idea  is  in- 
finitely more  tenacious  of  life  than  a  story  founded  on 
fact.  Further,  that  if  a  striking  similarity  in  the  legends 
of  two  such  heroes  be  discovered  under  circumstances 
which  forbid  the  thought  that  one  was  derived  from 
the  other,  then  both  are  probably  mythical.  If  this  is 
the  case  in  not  two  but  in  half  a  dozen  instances,  then 
the  probability  amounts  to  a  certainty,  and  the  only 


CULTURE-MYTHS.  193 

task  remaining  is  to  explain  such  narratives  on  con- 
sistent mythological  principles. 

If  after  sifting  out  all  foreign  and  later  traits,  it 
appears  that  when  first  known  to  Europeans,  these 
heroes  were  assigned  all  the  attributes  of  highest 
divinity,  were  the  imagined  creators  and  rulers  of  the 
world,  and  mightiest  of  spiritual  powers,  then  their 
position  must  be  set  far  higher  than  that  of  deified 
men.  They  must  be  accepted  as  the  supreme  gods  of 
the  red  race,  the  analogues  in  the  western  continent  of 
Jupiter,  Osiris,  and  Odin  in  the  eastern,  and  whatever 
opinions  contrary  to  this  may  have  been  advanced  by 
writers  and  travellers  must  be  set  down  to  the  account 
of  that  prevailing  ignorance  of  American  mythology 
which  has  fathered  so  many  other  blunders.  It  would 
not  be  inconsistent  with  this  view  if  along  with  these 
hero-gods  there  existed  some  vague  faith  in  an  abstract, 
remote  Cause  of  All,  occasionally  present  to  the  reflect- 
ing mind  of  the  worshipper.  Such  an  abstraction,  like 
the  metaphysical  definitions  of  God  in  higher  creeds, 
is  not  the  active  leaven  of  the  religious  emotions ;  this 
must  ever  be  connected  in  some  way  with  a  personifi- 
cation of  the  divine  attributes ;  be,  as  more  or  less 
crudely  understood,  the  Word  made  Flesh. 

To  solve  these  knotty  points  I  shall  choose  for  analy- 
sis the  culture  myths  of  the  Algonkins,  the  Iroquois, 
the  Toltecs  of  Mexico,  and  the  Quichuas  or  Peruvians, 
guided  in  my  choice  by  the  fact  that  these  four  families 
are  the  best  known,  and,  in  many  points  of  view,  the 
most  important  on  the  continent. 

From  the  remotest  wilds  of  the  northwest  to  the 

coast  of  the  Atlantic,  from  the  southern  boundaries  of 

Carolina  to  the  cheerless  swamps  of  Hudson  Bay,  the 

Algonkins  were  never  tired  of  gathering  around  the 

13 


194     THE  SUBBEME  GODS  OF  THE  RED  RACE. 

winter  fire  and  repeating  the  story  of  Manibozho  or 
Michabo,  the  Great  Hare.  With  entire  unanimity  their 
various  branches,  the  Powhatans  of  Virginia,  the  Lenni 
Lenape  of  the  Delaware,  the  warlike  hordes  of  New 
England,  the  Ottawas  of  the  far  north,  and  the  western 
tribes  perhaps  without  exception,  spoke  of  "  this 
chimerical  beast,"  as  one  of  the  old  missionaries  calls 
it,  as  their  common  ancestor.  The  totem  or  clan  which 
bore  his  name  was  looked  up  to  with  peculiar  respect. 

In  many  of  the  tales  which  the  whites  have  preserved 
of  Michabo  he  seems  half  a  wizard,  half  a  simpleton. 
He  is  full  of  pranks  and  wiles,  but  often  at  a  loss  for  a 
meal  of  victuals ;  ever  itching  to  try  his  arts  magic  on 
great  beasts  and  often  meeting  ludicrous  failures  there- 
in ;  envious  of  the  powers  of  others,  and  constantly 
striving  to  outdo  them  in  what  they  do  best ;  in  short, 
little  more  than  a  malicious  buffoon  delighting  in 
practical  jokes,  and  abusing  his  superhuman  powers  for 
selfish  and  ignoble  ends.  But  this  is  a  low,  modern, 
and  corrupt  version  of  the  character  of  Michabo,  bear- 
ing no  more  resemblance  to  his  real  and  ancient  one 
than  the  language  and  acts  of  our  Saviour  and  the 
apostles  in  the  coarse  Mystery  Plays  of  the  Middle  Ages 
do  to  those  recorded  by  the  Evangelists.1 

What  he  really  was  we  must  seek  in  the  accounts  of 
older  travellers,  in  the  invocations  of  the  jossakeeds  or 

1  Another  example  of  such  modern  deterioration  is  shown  by 
the  Brazilian  stories  of  Curupira.  They  represent  him  as  an  imp 
and  a  buffoon  ;  but  the  oldest  travellers,  De  Laet  for  example, 
speak  of  him  as  numen  mentium,  and  a  dignified  member  of  the 
pantheon.  See  C.  F.  Harrt,  0  Mytho  do  Ourupira,  in  the  Aurora 
Brasileira,  1873,  and  the  excellent  collection  of  nature  myths  by 
J.  Barbosa  Rodriguez,  Poranduba  Amazonense,  Introd.  (Rio  de 
Janeiro,  1890). 


THE  GEE  AT  HARE.  195 

prophets,  and  in  the  part  assigned  to  him  in  the  solemn 
mysteries  of  religion.  In  these  we  find  him  portrayed 
as  the  patron  and  founder  of  the  meda  worship,1  the 
inventor  of  picture  writing,  the  father  and  guardian  of 
their  nation,  the  ruler  of  the  winds,  even  the  maker  and 
preserver  of  the  world  and  creator  of  the  sun  and  moon. 

From  a  grain  of  sand  brought  from  the  bottom  of 
the  primeval  ocean,  he  fashioned  the  habitable  land 
and  set  it  floating  on  the  waters,  till  it  grew  to  such  a 
size  that  a  strong  young  wolf,  running  constantly,  died 
of  old  age  ere  he  reached  its  limits.  Under  the  name 
Michabo  Ovisaketchak,  the  Great  Hare  who  created  the 
Earth,  he  was  originally  the  highest  divinity  recognized 
by  them,  "  powerful  and  beneficent  beyond  all  others, 
maker  of  the  heavens  and  the  world." 

He  was  the  founder  of  the  medicine  hunt  in  which 
after  appropriate  ceremonies  and  incantations  the  In- 
dian sleeps,  and  Michabo  appears  to  him  in  a  dream, 
and  tells  him  where  he  may  readily  kill  game.  He 
himself  was  a  mighty  hunter  of  old ;  one  of  his  foot- 
steps measured  eight  leagues,  the  Great  Lakes  were  the 
beaver  dams  he  built,  and  when  the  cataracts  impeded 
his  progress  he  tore  them  away  with  his  hands. 

Attentively  watching  the  spider  spread  its  web  to 
trap  unwary  flies,  he  devised  the  art  of  knitting  nets 
to  catch  fish,  and  the  signs  and  charms  he  tested  and 
handed  down  to  his  descendants  are  of  marvellous  effi- 
cacy in  the  chase.  In  the  autumn,  in  "  the  moon  of 
the  falling  leaf,"  ere  he  composes  himself  to  his  winter's 

1  The  meda  worship  is  the  ordinary  religious  ritual  of  the  Al- 
gonkins.  It  consists  chiefly  in  exhibitions  of  legerdemain,  and  in 
conjuring  and  exorcising  demons.  A  jossakeed  is  an  inspired 
prophet  who  derives  his  power  directly  from  the  higher  spirits/ 
and  not  as  the  medawin,  by  instruction  and  practice. 


196     THE  SUPEEME  GODS  OF  THE  BED  RACE. 

sleep,  he  fills  his  great  pipe  and  takes  a  godlike  smoke. 
The  balmy  clouds  float  over  the  hills  and  woodlands, 
filling  the  air  with  the  haze  of  the  "  Indian  summer." 

Sometimes  he  was  said  to  dwell  in  the  skies  with  his 
brother  the  snow,  or,  like  many  great  spirits,  to  have 
built  his  wigwam  in  the  far  north  on  some  floe  of  ice 
in  the  Arctic  Ocean;  while  the  Chippeways  localized 
his  birthplace  and  former  home  to  the  Island  Michili- 
makinac  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior.  But  in  the 
oldest  accounts  of  the  missionaries  he  was  alleged  to 
reside  toward  the  east,  and  in  the  holy  formulae  of  the 
meda  craft,  when  the  winds  are  invoked  to  the  medi- 
cine lodge,  the  east  is  summoned  in  his  name,  the  door 
opens  in  that  direction,  and  there,  at  the  edge  of  the 
earth,  where  the  sun  rises,  on  the  shore  of  the  infinite 
ocean  that  surrounds  the  land,  he  has  his  house  and 
sends  the  luminaries  forth  on  their  daily  journeys.1 

It  is  passing  strange  that  such  an  insignificant  crea- 
ture as  the  rabbit  should  have  received  this  apotheosis. 
No  explanation  of  it  in  the  least  satisfactory  has  ever 
been  offered.  Some  have  pointed  it  out  as  a  senseless, 
meaningless  brute  worship.  It  leads  to  the  suspicion 
that  there  may  lurk  here  one  of  those  confusions  of 

i  For  these  particulars  see  the  ltd.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1667,  p. 
12, 1670,  p.  93  ;  Charlevoix,  Journal  Historique,  p.  344  ;  Schoolcraft, 
Indian  Tribes,  v.  pp.  420  sqq.  ;  Alex.  Henry,  Trams,  in  Canada, 
andthelnd.  Territories,  pp.  212  sqq.;  Nic.  Perrot,  Mem.  surFAmer. 
Sept.,  pp.  12,  19,  339  (1665);  Blomes,  State  of  his  Maj.  Terr.,  p. 
193;  Strachey,  Travaile  into  Virginia,  p.  98,  etc.  Of  the  many 
modern  writers  who  have  studied  the  myth,  I  name  J.  G.  Kohl, 
C.  G.  Leland,  T.  L.  McKinney,  J.  I.  Hindley,  A.  F.  Chamberlain, 
S.  T.  Band,  W.  J.  Hoffman,  etc.  Dr.  Hoffman  (American  Anthro- 
pologist, July,  1889)  makes  Manibozho  the  servant  of  Dje  Manedo, 
the  Great  Spirit.  This  is  a  frequent,  but  modern,  variant  of  the 
ancient  myth. 


THE  BABBIT  MYTH.  197 

words  which  have  so  often  led  to  confusion  of  ideas  in 
mythology. 

Manibozho,  Nanibojou,  Missibizi,  Michabo,  Messou, 
all  variations  of  the  same  name  in  different  dialects 
rendered  according  to  different  orthographies,  scruti- 
nize them  closely  as  we  may,  they  all  seem  compounded 
according  to  well  ascertained  laws  of  Algonkin  euphony 
from  the  words  corresponding  to  great  and  hare  or  rabbit, 
or  the  first  two  perhaps  from  spirit  and  hare  (michi,  great, 
wabos,  hare,  manito  wabos,  spirit  hare,  Chipeway  dialect), 
and  so  they  have  invariably  been  translated  even  by 
the  Indians  themselves.1  But  looking  more  narrowly 
at  the  second  member  of  the  word,  it  is  clearly  capable 
of  another  and  very  different  interpretation,  of  an  in- 
terpretation which  discloses  at  once  the  origin  and  the 
secret  meaning  of  the  whole  story  of  Michabo,  in  the 
light  of  which  it  appears  no  longer  the  incoherent 
fable  of  savages,  but  a  true  myth,  instinct  with  nature, 
pregnant  with  matter,  nowise  inferior  to  those  which 
fascinate  in  the  chants  of  the  Rig  Veda,  or  the  weird 
pages  of  the  Edda. 

1  The  rabbit  called  wabos  is  the  small  gray  rabbit.  It  reappears 
in  Iroquois  and  Cherokee  folk-tales.  In  the  latter  it  overcomes 
one  of  the  demi-gods  and  blows  him  to  pieces,  the  fragments  be- 
coming the  bits  of  flint  or  chert  which  were  found  in  their  land 
(J.  Mooney,  in  Jour.  Amer.  Folk-lore,  vol.  ii.  No.  4).  In  the 
Siouan  legends  it  is  so  cunning  that  it  tricks  Ikto,  the  most  crafty 
of  beings  and  the  discoverer  of  human  speech  (Dorsey,  Study  of 
Siouan  Cults,  p.  472).  Among  the  Nahuas  the  "  Man  in  the  Moon  " 
was  called  a  rabbit,  and  the  calendar  count  began  with  the  day 
named  after  this  animal,  Tochtli.  In  the  mystic  language  of  the 
Nagualists  the  rabbit  represented  the  air  or  wind  (De  la  Serna, 
Manual  de  Ministros,  p.  223).  Two  gentes  among  the  Algonkins 
were  called  from  it.  Many  other  instances  could  be  cited  of  its 
prominent  position  in  native  mythology. 


198     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  RED  RACE. 

On  a  previous  page  I  have  emphasized  with  what 
might  have  seemed  superfluous  force,  how  prominent 
in  primitive  mythology  is  the  east,  the  source  of  the 
morning,  the  day-spring  on  high,  the  cardinal  point 
which  determines  and  controls  all  others.  But  I  did 
not  lay  as  much  stress  on  it  as  others  have.  "  The 
whole  theogony  and  philosophy  of  the  ancient  world," 
says  Max  Mu'ller,  "  centred  in  the  Dawn,  the  mother 
of  the  bright  gods,  of  the  Sun  in  his  various  aspects, 
of  the  morn,  the  day,  the  spring ;  herself  the  brilliant 
image  and  visage  of  immortality.1 

Now  it  appears  on  attentively  examining  the  Algon- 
kin  root  wab,  that  it  gives  rise  to  words  of  very  diverse 
meaning,  that  like  many  others  in  all  languages,  while 
presenting  but  one  form  it  represents  ideas  of  wholly 
unlike  origin  and  application,  that  in  fact  there  are  two 
distinct  roots  having  this  sound.  One  is  the  initial 
syllable  of  the  word  translated  hare  or  rabbit,  but  the 
other  means  white,  and  from  it  is  derived  the  words  for 
the  east,  the  dawn,  the  light,  the  day,  and  the  morning.2 
Beyond  a  doubt  this  is  the  compound  in  the  names 
Michabo  and  Manibozho,  which  therefore  mean  the 
Great  Light,  the  Spirit  of  Light,  of  the  Dawn,  or  the 
East,  and  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word  the  Great 
White  One,  as  indeed  he  has  sometimes  been  called. 

1  Science  of  Language,  Second  Series,  p.  518. 

"  Dialectic  forms  in  Algonkin  for  white,  are  wabi,  wape,  wompi, 
vxmbish,  oppai ;  for  morning,  wapan,  ivapaneh,  opah ;  for  east,  wapa, 
waiibun,  waubamo  ;  for  dawn,  wapa,  waubun  ;  for  day,  wompan,  oppan  ; 
for  light,  oppung ;  and  many  others  similar.  In  the  Abnaki 
dialect,  wanbighen,  it  is  white,  is  the  customary  idiom  to  express 
the  breaking  of  the  day,  as  it  was  with  the  Latins,  albente  codo. 
Cuoq,  Lexique  Algonquine,  p.  413  ;  Lacombe,  Diet,  de  la  Langue  des 
Oris,  p.  636,  etc. 


MANIBOZHO.  199 

In  this  sense  all  the  ancient  and  authentic  myths 
concerning  him  are  plain  and  full  of  meaning.  They 
divide  themselves  into  two  distinct  cycles.  In  the  one 
Michabo  is  the  spirit  of  light  who  dispels  the  dark- 
ness ;  in  the  other  as  chief  of  the  cardinal  points  he 
is  lord  of  the  winds,  prince  of  the  powers  of  the  air, 
whose  voice  is  the  thunder,  whose  weapon  the  light- 
ning, the  supreme  figure  in  the  encounter  of  the  air 
currents,  in  the  unending  conflict  which  the  Dakotas 
described  as  waged  by  the  waters  and  the  winds. 

In  the  first  he  is  grandson  of  the  moon,  his  father  is 
the  West  Wind,  and  his  mother,  a  maiden,  dies  in  giv- 
ing him  birth  at  the  moment  of  conception.  For  the 
moon  is  the  goddess  of  light,  the  Dawn  is  her  daugh- 
ter, who  brings  forth  the  morning  and  perishes  herself 
in  the  act,  and  the  West,  the  spirit  of  darkness  as  the 
East  is  of  light,  precedes  and  as  it  were  begets  the  latter 
as  the  evening  does  the  morning. 

Straightway,  however,  continues  the  legend,  the  son 
sought  the  unnatural  father  to  revenge  the  death  of 
his  mother,  and  then  commenced  a  long  and  desperate 
struggle.  "  It  began  on  the  mountains.  The  West  was 
forced  to  give  ground.  Manibozho  drove  him  across 
rivers  and  over  mountains  and  lakes,  and  at  last 
he  came  to  the  brink  of  this  world.  '  Hold,'  cried  he, 
'  my  son,  you  know  my  power  and  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  kill  me.'  m  What  is  this  but  the  diurnal  combat 
of  light  and  darkness,  carried  on  from  what  time 
"the  jocund  morn  stands  tiptoe  on  the  misty  moun- 
tain tops,"  across  the  wide  world  to  the  sunset,  the 
struggle  that  knows  no  end,  for  both  the  opponents  are 
immortal  ? 

i  Schoolcraft,  Algic  Researches,  i.  pp.  135-142. 


200     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  RED  RACE. 

In  the  second,  and  evidently  to  the  native  mind 
more  important  cycle  of  legends,  he  was  represented 
as  one  of  four  brothers,  the  North,  the  South,  the  East, 
and  the  West,  all  born  at  a  birth,  whose  mother  died 
in  ushering  them  into  the  world  j1  for  hardly  has  the 
kindling  orient  served  to  fix  the  cardinal  points  than 
it  is  lost  and  dies  in  the  advancing  day. 

Yet  it  is  clear  that  he  was  something  more  than  a 
personification  of  the  east  or  the  east  wind,  for  it  is 
repeatedly  said  that  it  was  he  who  assigned  their  duties 
to  all  the  winds,  to  that  of  the  east  as  well  as  the  others. 
This  is  a  blending  of  his  two  characters.  Here,  too, 
his  life  is  a  battle.  No  longer  with  his  father,  indeed, 
but  with  his  brother  Chakekenapok,  the  flint-stone, 
whom  he  broke  in  pieces  and  scattered  over  the  land, 
and  changed  his  entrails  into  fruitful  vines. 

The  conflict  was  long  and  terrible.  The  face  of  na- 
ture was  desolated  as  by  a  tornado,  and  the  gigantic 

1  The  names  of  the  four  brothers,  Wabun,  Kabun,  Kabibonokka, 
and  Shawano,  express  in  Algonkin  both  the  cardinal  points  and 
the  winds  which  blow  from  them.  In  another  version  of  the 
legend,  first  reported  by  Father  De  Smet  and  quoted  by  Schoolcraft 
without  acknowledgment,  they  are  Nanaboojoo,  Chipiapoos,  Wa- 
bosso,  and  Chakekenapok.  See  for  the  support  of  the  text,  School- 
craft,  Algic  Res.,  ii.  p.  214  ;  De  Smet,  Oregon  Missions,  p.  347,  and 
authors  above  mentioned.  Lederer  gives  their  names  in  the  Vir- 
ginian dialect  as  Pash,  Sepoy,  Askarin,  and  Maraskarin  (Discov- 
eries, p.  4).  When  Captain  Argoll  visited  the  Potomac  in  1610  a 
chief  told  him:  "We  have  five  gods  in  all;  our  chief  god  ap- 
pears often  unto  us  in  the  form  of  a  mighty  great  hare  ;  the  other 
four  have  no  visible  shape,  but  are  indeed  the  four  winds  which 
keep  the  four  corners  of  the  earth"  (Strachey,  Virginia,  p.  98). 
The  modern  connection  of  the  Michabo  legend  with  the  cardinal 
points  and  colors  is  well  shown  in  the  article  of  Dr.  Hoffman  above 
referred  to. 


RULER  OF  THE  WINDS.  201 

boulders  and  loose  rocks  found  on  the  prairies  are  the 
missiles  hurled  by  the  mighty  combatants.  Or  else 
his  foe  was  the  glittering  prince  of  serpents  whose 
abode  was  the  lake  ;  or  was  the  shining  Manito  whose 
home  was  guarded  by  fiery  serpents  and  a  deep  sea  ; 
or  was  the  great  king  of  fishes  ;  all  symbols  of  the  at- 
mospheric waters,  all  figurative  descriptions  of  the  wars 
of  the  elements. 

In  these  affrays  the  thunder  and  lightning  are  at  his 
command,  and  with  them  he  destroys  his  enemies. 
For  this  reason  the  Chipeway  pictography  represents 
him  brandishing  a  rattlesnake,  the  symbol  of  the  elec- 
tric flash,1  and  sometimes  they  called  him  the  North- 
west Wind,  which  in  the  region  they  inhabit  usually 
brings  the  thunder-storms. 

As  ruler  of  the  winds  he  was,  like  Quetzalcoatl,  father 
and  protector  of  all  species  of  birds,  their  symbols.2 
He  was  patron  of  hunters,  for  their  course  is  guided 
by  the  cardinal  points.  Therefore,  when  the  medicine 
hunt  had  been  successful,  the  prescribed  sign  of  grati- 
tude to  him  was  to  scatter  a  handful  of  the  animal's 
blood  toward  each  of  these.3  As  daylight  brings  vision, 
and  to  see  is  to  know,  it  was  no  fable  that  gave  him  as 
the  author  of  their  arts,  their  wisdom,  and  their  insti- 
tutions. 

In  effect,  his  story  is  a  world- wide  truth,  veiled  under 
a  thin  garb  of  fancy.  It  is  but  a  variation  of  that  nar- 
rative which  every  race  has  to  tell,  out  of  gratitude  to 
that  beneficent  Father  who  everywhere  has  cared  for 
His  children.  Michabo,  giver  of  life  and  light,  creator 
and  preserver,  is  no  apotheosis  of  a  prudent  chieftain, 

1  Narrative  of  John  Tanner,  p.  351. 

2  Schoolcraft,  Alyic  Res.,  i.  p.  216. 

3  Narrative  of  John  Tanner,  p.  354. 


202     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  RED  RACE. 

still  less  the  fabrication  of  an  idle  fancy  or  a  designing 
priestcraft,  but  in  origin,  deeds,  and  name  the  not  un- 
worthy personification  of  the  purest  conceptions  they 
possessed  concerning  the  Father  of  All.  To  Him  at 
early  dawn  the  Indian  stretched  forth  his  hands  in 
prayer ;  and  to  the  sky  or  the  sun  as  his  home,  he  first 
pointed  the  pipe  in  his  ceremonies,  rites  often  misin- 
terpreted by  travelers  as  indicative  of  sun  worship. 

As  later  observers  tell  us,  to  this  day  the  Algonkin 
prophet  builds  the  medicine  lodge  to  face  the  sunrise, 
and  in  the  name  of  Michabo,  who  there  has  his  home, 
summons  the  spirits  of  the  four  quarters  of  the  world 
and  Gizhigooke,  the  day  maker,  to  come  to  his  fire  and 
disclose  the  hidden  things  of  the  distant  and  the  future: 
so  the  earliest  explorers  relate  that  when  they  asked  the 
native  priests  who  it  was  they  invoked,  what  demons  or 
familiars,  the  invariable  reply  was,  "the  Kichigouai, 
the  genii  of  light,  those  who  make  the  day."1 

Our  authorities  on  Iroquois  traditions,  though  nu- 
merous enough,  are  not  so  satisfactory.  The  best,  per- 

1  Compare  the  Rel.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1634,  p.  14,  1637,  p.  46, 
with  Schoolcraft,  2nd.  Tribes,  v.  p.  419.  Kichigouai  is  the  same 
word  as  Gizhigooke,  according  to  a  different  orthography.  In  the 
Micmac  stories  collected  by  Eev.  Silas  T.  Band  and  Mr.  Leland, 
Michabo  figures  under  the  name  Glooscap,  the  Deceiver,  on  account 
of  his  skill  in  foiling  his  enemies.  This  is  a  modern  and  imperfect 
form  of  the  legend,  as  I  have  pointed  out  ( American  Antiquarian, 
May,  1885)  allied  to  the  Cree  conception  of  Wisakedjak  (Cuoq, 
Lexique  Algonquine,  p.  442,  Lacombe,  Diet.  Cris,  p.  653).  The 
Indian  author,  John  Nicolas,  of  Maine,  has  recently  published 
the  true,  ancient  traditions  of  Glooscap,  whom  he  spells  Klose- 
kur-beh  and  translates  "  the  man  from  (made  out  of)  nothing." 
(Life  and  Traditions  of  the  Eed  Man,  1893.)  See  also  Edward  Jack, 
in  Transactions  of  the  Canadian  Institute,  1892,  pp.  202,  sqq.  ;  Silas  T. 
Rand,  Legends  of  the  Micmacs,  1894. 


THE  VIRGIN  MOTHER.  203 

haps,  is  Father  Brebeuf,  a  Jesuit  missionary,  who 
resided  among  the  Hurons  in  1626.  Their  culture 
myth,  which  he  has  recorded,  is  strikingly  similar  to 
that  of  the  Algonkins.  Two  brothers  appear  in  it, 
loskeha  and  Tawiscara,  names  which  find  their  mean- 
ing in  the  Oneida  dialect  as  the  White  one  and  the 
Dark  one.1  They  are  twins,  born  of  a  virgin  mother, 
who  died  in  giving  them  life.  Their  grandmother  was 
the  moon,  called  by  the  Hurons  Ataensic,  a  word  which 
signifies  literally  she  bathes  herself,  and  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  Father  Bruyas,  a  most  competent  authority, 
is  derived  from  the  word  for  water.2 

The  brothers  quarreled,  and  finally  came  to  blows ; 
the  former  using  the  horns  of  a  stag,  the  latter  the  wild 
rose.  He  of  the  weaker  weapon  was  very  naturally 

1  The  names  ISskeha  and  Ta8iscara  I  venture  to  identify  with 
the  Oneida  owisske  or  owiska,  white,  and  tetiuccdas  (tyokaras  tewhgarlars, 
Mohawk),  dark  or  darkness.     The  prefix  i  to  owisske  is  the  imper- 
sonal third  person  singular  ;  the  suffix  ha  gives  a  future  sense,  so 
that  i-owisske-ha  or  iouskeha  means  "  it  is  going  to  become  white." 
Brebeuf   gives  a  similar  example  of  goon,  old  ;  a-gaon-ha,  il  va 
devenir  vieux  (Eel.  Nouv.  France,  1636,  p.  99).     But  "  it  is  going  to 
become  white,"  meant  to  the  Iroquois  that  the  dawn  was  about  to 
appear,  just  as  wanbighen,  it  is  white,  did  to  the  Abnakis  (see  note 
on  page  198),  and  as  the  Eskimos  say,  kau  ma  wok,  it  is  white,  to 
express  that  it  is  daylight  (Erdman,  Eskimoisches  Worterbuch). 

2  The  orthography  of  Brebeuf  is  aataenisic.     This  may  be  ana- 
lyzed as  follows  :  root  aouen,  water  ;  prefix  at,  il  y  a  quelque  chose  let 
dedans  ;  ataouen,  se  baigner  ;  from  which  comes  the  form  ataouensere. 
(See  Bruyas,  Rod.  Verb.   Iroquceor. ,  pp.  30,  31.)     Here   again  the 
mythological  role  of  the  moon  as  the  goddess  of  water  comes  dis- 
tinctly to  light.     These  etymologies  have  been  attacked  by  Mr.  J. 
B.  N.   Hewitt  (Proceedings  Amer.  Assoc.  Adv.  of  Science,  1895,  pp. 
241,   sqq.)  and    others  proposed ;    but  I  prefer  the  opinions  of 
Brebeuf  and  Cuoq  to  those  of  Mr.  Hewitt ;  although  to  concede  his 
derivations  would  not  affect  the  interpretation  of  the  myth. 


204     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  RED  RACE. 

discomfited  and  sorely  wounded.  Fleeing  for  life,  the 
blood  gushed  from  him  at  every  step,  and  as  it  fell 
turned  into  flint-stones.  The  victor  returned  to  his 
grandmother,  and  established  his  lodge  in  the  far  east, 
on  the  borders  of  the  great  ocean,  whence  the  sun  comes. 
In  time  he  became  the  father  of  mankind,  and  special 
guardian  of  the  Iroquois. 

The  earth  was  at  first  arid  and  sterile,  but  he  de- 
stroyed the  gigantic  frog  which  had  swallowed  all  the 
waters,  and  guided  the  torrents  into  smooth  streams 
and  lakes.1  The  woods  he  stocked  with  game ;  and 
having  learned  from  the  great  tortoise,  who  supports 
the  world,  how  to  make  fire,  taught  his  children,  the 
Indians,  this  indispensable  art.  He  it  was  who  watched 
and  watered  their  crops ;  and,  indeed,  without  his  aid, 
says  the  old  missionary,  quite  out  of  patience  with 
such  puerilities,  "they  think  they  could  not  boil  a 
pot."  Sometimes  they  spoke  of  him  as  the  sun,  but 
this  only  figuratively.2 

From  other  writers  of  early  date  we  learn  that  the 
essential  outlines  of  this  myth  were  received  by  the 
Tuscaroras  and  Mohawks,  and  as  the  proper  names  of 
the  two  brothers  are  in  the  Oneida  dialect,  we  cannot 
err  in  considering  this  the  national  legend  of  the 
Iroquois  stock.  There  is  strong  likelihood  that  the 

1  This  offers  an  instance  of  the  uniformity  which  prevailed  in 
symbolism  in  the  New  World.     The  Aztecs  adored  the  goddess  of 
water  under  the  figure  of  a  frog  carved  from  a  single  emerald  ;  or 
of  human  form,  but  holding  in  her  hand  the  leaf  of  a  water  lily 
ornamented  with  frogs.    In  the  Maya  codices  it  appears  as  a  sym- 
bol of  the  water  and  the  rains.     Cod.  Cortesianius,  pp.  12, 17,  etc. 
Images  of  it  cut  from  stone  or  of  clay  are  frequent  in  American 
art.    They  were  kept  by  the  later  Indians  as  talismans.     B.  de 
Alva,  Confessionario  en  Lenyua  Mexicana,  fol.  9. 

2  Ed.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1636,  p.  101. 


SIMILAR  MYTHS.  205 

Taronhiawagon,  he  who  comes  from  the  Sky,  of  the 
Onondagas,  who  was  their  supreme  God,  who  spoke  to 
them  in  dreams,  and  in  whose  honor  the  chief  festival 
of  their  calendar  was  celebrated  about  the  winter  sol- 
stice, was,  in  fact,  loskeha  under  another  name.1  As 
to  the  legend  of  the  Good  and  Bad  Minds  given  by 
Cusic,  to  which  I  have  referred  in  a  previous  chapter, 
and  the  later  myth  of  Hiawatha,  first  made  public  by 
Mr.  Clark  in  his  History  of  Onondaga  (1849),  and 
which,  in  the  graceful  poem  of  Longfellow,  is  now 
familiar  to  the  world,  they  are  but  pale  reflections  of 
the  early  native  traditions,  in  which  history  and  fancy 
are  commingled.2 

So  strong  is  the  resemblance  loskeha  bears  to 
Michabo,  that  what  has  been  said  in  explanation  of 
the  latter  will  be  sufficient  for  both.  Yet  I  do  not 
imagine  that  the  one  was  copied  or  borrowed  from  the 
other.  We  cannot  be  too  cautious  in  adopting  such  a 
conclusion.  The  two  nations  were  remote  in  every- 
thing but  geographical  position. 

I  call  to  mind  another  similar  myth.  In  it  a  mother 
is  also  said  to  have  brought  forth  twins,  or  a  pair  of 
twins,  and  to  have  paid  for  them  with  her  life.  Again 
the  one  is  described  as  the  bright,  the  other  as  the  dark 
twin  ;  again  it  is  said  that  they  struggled  one  with  the 
other  for  the  mastery.  Scholars,  likewise,  have  inter- 

1  Eel.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1671,  p.  17.  Cusic  spells  it  Tarenya- 
wagon,  and  translates  it  Holder  of  the  Heavens.  But  the  name  is 
evidently  a  compound  of  garonhia,  sky,  softened  in  the  Onondaga 
dialect  to  taronhia  (see  Gallatin's  Vocabs.  under  the  word  sky), 
and  wagin,  I  come. 

The  story  of  Hiawatha,  in  so  far  as  it  pertains  to  history,  has 
been  carefully  summed  up  by  Horatio  Hale  in  his  Iroquois  Book 
of  Rites,  chap.  5L 


206  THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  BED  RACE. 

preted  the  mother  to  mean  the  Dawn,  the  twins  either 
Light  and  Darkness,  or  the  Four  Winds.  Yet  this  is 
not  Algonkin  theology  ;  nor  is  it  at  all  related  to  that 
of  the  Iroquois.  It  is  the  story  of  Sarama  in  the  Rig 
Veda,  and  was  written  in  Sanscrit,  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Himalayas,  centuries  before  Homer. 

Such  uniformity  points  not  to  a  common  source  in 
history,  but  in  psychology.  Man,  chiefly  cognizant  of 
his  existence  through  his  senses,  thought  with  an  awful 
horror  of  the  night  which  deprived  him  of  the  use  of 
one  and  foreshadowed  the  loss  of  all.  Therefore  light 
and  life  were  to  him  synonymous ;  therefore  all  relig- 
ions promise  to  lead 

"  From  night  to  light, 
From  night  to  heavenly  light ;" 

therefore  He  who  rescues  is  ever  the  Light  of  the 
World  ;  therefore  it  is  said  "  to  the  upright  ariseth  light 
in  darkness  ;"  therefore  everywhere  the  kindling  East, 
the  pale  Dawn,  is  the  embodiment  of  his  hopes  and  the 
centre  of  his  reminiscences. 

Who  shall  say  that  his  instinct  led  him  here  astray  ? 
For  is  not,  in  fact,  all  life  dependent  on  light  ?  Do  not 
all  those  marvellous  and  subtle  forces  known  to  the 
older  chemists  as  the  imponderable  elements,  without 
which  not  even  the  inorganic  crystal  is  possible,  pro- 
ceed from  the  rays  of  light?  Let  us  beware  of  that 
shallow  science  so  ready  to  shout  Eureka,  and  reve- 
rently acknowledge  a  mysterious  intuition  here  dis- 
played which  joins  with  the  latest  conquests  of  the 
human  mind  to  repeat  and  emphasize  that  message 
which  the  Evangelist  heard  of  the  Spirit  and  declared 
unto  men,  that  "  God  is  Light."1 

i  -o  ecos  <t>o>s  tan,  The  First  Epistle  General  of  John,  i.  5.     In 


LIGHT  AND  DARKNESS.  207 

Both  these  heroes,  let  it  be  observed,  live  in  the  utter- 
most east ;  both  are  the  mythical  fathers  of  the  race. 
To  the  east,  therefore,  should  these  nations  have 
pointed  as  their  original  dwelling  place.  This  they  did 
in  spite  of  history.  Cusic,  who  takes  up  the  story  of 
the  Iroquois  a  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
locates  them  first  in  the  most  eastern  region  they  ever 
possessed.  While  the  Algonkins  with  one  voice  called 
those  of  their  tribes  living  nearest  the  rising  sun 
Abnakis,  our  ancestors  at  the  east,  or  at  the  dawn ;  liter- 
ally our  white  ancestors.1 

I  designedly  emphasize  this  literal  rendering.  It 
reminds  one  of  the  white  twin  of  Iroquois  legend,  and 
illustrates  how  the  color  white  came  to  be  intimately 
associated  with  the  morning  light  and  its  beneficent 
effects.  Moreover  color  has  a  specific  effect  on  the 
mind ;  there  is  a  music  to  the  eye  as  well  as  to  the  ear; 
and  white,  which  holds  all  hues  in  itself,  disposes  the 
soul  to  all  pleasant  and  elevating  emotions.2  Not 

curious  analogy  to  these  myths  is  that  of  the  Eskimos  of  Green- 
land. In  the  beginning,  they  relate,  were  two  brothers,  one  of 
whom  said:  "There  shall  be  night  and  there  shall  be  day,  and 
men  shall  die,  one  after  another."  But  the  second  said,  "There 
shall  be  no  day,  but  only  night  all  the  time,  and  men  shall  live 
forever."  They  had  a  long  struggle,  but  here  once  more  he  who 
loved  darkness  rather  than  light  was  worsted,  and  the  day  tri- 
umphed. (Nachrichten  von  Gfronland  aus  einem  Tagebuche  vom  Sischof 
Paul  Egede,  p.  157  :  Kopenhagen,  1790.  The  date  of  the  entry  is 
1738.) 

1  I  accept  without  hesitation  the  derivation  of  this  word,  pro- 
posed and  defended  by  that  accomplished  Algonkin  scholar,  the 
Rev.  Eugene  Vetromile,  from  wanb,  white  or  east,  and  naghi,  an- 
cestors (The  Abnakis  and  their  History,  p.  29,  New  York,  1866). 

3  White  light,  remarks  Goethe,  has  in  it  something  cheerful 
and  ennobling  ;  it  possesses  "eine  heitere,  muntere,  sanft  reizende 
Eigenschaft."  Farbenkhre,  see's  766,  770. 


208     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  RED  RACE, 

fashion  alone  bids  the  bride  wreathe  her  brow  with 
orange  flowers,  nor  was  it  a  mere  figure  of  speech  that 
led  the  inspired  poet  to  call  his  love  "  fairest  among 
women,"  and  to  prophesy  a  Messiah  "  fairer  than  the 
children  of  men,"  fulfilled  in  that  day  when  He  ap- 
peared "  in  garments  so  white  as  no  fuller  on  earth 
could  white  them." 

No  nation  is  free  from  the  power  of  this  law.  "White," 
observes  Adair  of  the  southern  Indians,  "  is  their  fixed 
emblem  of  peace,  friendship,  happiness,  prosperity, 
purity,  and  holiness."1  Their  priests  dressed  in  white 
robes,  as  did  those  of  Peru  and  Mexico ;  the  kings  of 
the  various  species  of  animals  were  all  supposed  to  be 
white  ;J  the  cities  of  refuge  established  as  asylums  for 
alleged  criminals  by  the  Cherokees  in  the  manner  of 
the  Israelites  were  called  "  white  towns ;"  and  for  sacri- 
fices animals  of  this  color  were  ever  most  highly  es- 
teemed. 

All  these  sentiments  were  linked  to  the  dawn.  Lan- 
guage itself  is  a  proof  of  it.  Many  Algonkin  words  for 
east,  morning,  dawn,  day,  light,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  are  derived  from  a  radical  signifying  white.  Or 
we  can  take  a  tongue  nowise  related,  the  Quiche,  and 
find  its  words  for  east,  dawn,  morning,  light,  bright, 
glorious,  happy,  noble,  all  derived  from  zak,  white. 
We  read  in  their  legends  of  the  earliest  men  that  they 
were  "  white  children,"  "  white  sons,"  leading  "  a  white 
life  beyond  the  dawn,"  and  the  creation  itself  is  attrib- 
uted to  the  Dawn,  the  White  One,  the  White  Sacrificer 
of  Blood.3 

1  Hist,  of  the  N.  Am.  Indians,  p.  159. 

2  La  Hontan,  Voy.  dans  FAmer.  Sept.,  ii.  p.  42. 

*  "Blanco  pizote,"  Ximenes,  p.  4,  Vocabulario  Quiche,  s.  v.  zak. 
In  the  far  north  the  Eskimo  tongue  presents  the  same  analogy. 


THE  WHITE  GOD.  209 

But  why  insist  upon  the  point  when  in  European 
tongues  we  find  the  daybreak  called  Vaube,  alva,  from 
albus,  white?  Enough  for  the  purpose  if  the  error  of 
those  is  manifest,  who,  in  such  expressions,  would  seek 
support  for  any  theory  of  ancient  European  immigra- 
tion ;  enough  if  it  displays  the  true  meaning  of  those 
traditions  of  the  advent  of  benevolent  visitors  of  fair 
complexion  in  ante-Columbian  times,  which  both  Al- 
gonkins  and  Iroquois1  had  in  common  with  many  other 
tribes  of  the  western  continent. 

Their  explanation  will  not  be  found  in  the  annals  of 
Japan,  the  triads  of  the  Cymric  bards,  nor  the  sagas 
of  Icelandic  skalds,  but  in  the  propensity  of  the  hu- 
man mind  to  attribute  its  own  origin  and  culture  to 
that  white-shining  orient  where  sun,  moon,  and  stars, 
are  daily  born  in  renovated  glory,  to  that  fair  mother, 
who,  at  the  cost  of  her  own  life,  gives  light  and  joy  to 
the  world,  to  the  brilliant  womb  of  Aurora,  the  glow- 
ing bosom  of  the  Dawn. 

Even  the  complicated  mythology  of  Peru  yields  to 
the  judicious  application  of  these  principles  of  interpre- 
tation. Its  peculiar  obscurity  arises  from  the  policy 
of  the  Incas  to  blend  the  religions  of  conquered  prov- 
inces with  their  own.  Thus  about  1350  the  Inca  Pa- 
chacutec  subdued  the  country  about  Lima  where  the 

Day,  morning,  bright,  light,  lightning,  all  are  from  the  same  root 
(kau),  signifying  white.  So  in  Hidatsa,  from  hati,  to  grow  light, 
come  ahati,  white,  amahati,  to  shine,  etc.  (W.  Matthews,  Hidatsa 
Grammar). 

1  Some  fragments  of  them  may  be  found  in  Campanius,  Ace.  of 
New  Sweden,  1650,  book  iii.  chap.  11,  and  in  Byrd,  The  Westover 
Manuscripts,  1733,  p.  82.  They  were  in  both  instances  alleged  to 
have  been  white  and  bearded  men,  the  latter  probably  a  later  trait 
in  the  legend. 

14 


210     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  TEE  EED  RACE. 

worship  of  Con  and  Pachacamac  prevailed.1  The  local 
myth  represented  these  as  father  and  son,  or  brothers, 
children  of  the  sun.  They  were  without  flesh  or  blood, 
impalpable,  invisible,  and  incredibly  swift  of  foot. 
Con  first  possessed  the  land,  but  Pachacamac  attacked 
and  drove  him  to  the  north.  Irritated  at  his  defeat  he 
took  with  him  the  rain;  and  consequently  to  this  day 
the  sea-coast  of  Peru  is  largely  an  arid  desert. 

Now  when  we  are  informed  that  the  south  wind,  that, 
in  other  words,  which  blows  to  the  north,  is  the  actual 
cause  of  the  aridity  of  the  lowlands,"  and  consider  the 
light  and  airy  character  of  these  antagonists,  we  can- 
not hesitate  to  accept  this  as  a  myth  of  the  winds. 

The  name  of  Con  tid,  the  Thunder  Vase,  was  indeed 
applied  to  Viracocha  in  later  times,  but  they  were  never 
identical.  Viracocha  was  the  culture  hero  of  the  ancient 
Aymara-Quichua  stock.  He  was  more  than  that,  for 
in  their  creed  he  was  creator  and  possessor  of  all  things. 
Lands  and  herds  were  assigned  to  other  gods  to  sup- 
port their  temples,  and  offerings  were  heaped  on  their 
altars,  but  to  him  none.  For,  asked  the  Incas :  "  Shall 
the  Lord  and  Master  of  the  whole  world  need  these 
things  from  us?"  To  him,  says  Acosta,  "  they  did  at- 

1  Con  or  Own  I  have  already  explained  (see  note,  p.  187)  to  mean 
thunder,  Con  tici,  the  mythical  thunder  vase.  The  name  Pacha- 
camac is  analyzed  with  minuteness  by  Von  Tschudi  (Beitr'dge  zur 
Kennt.  des  alien  Peru,  p.  121,  Vienna,  1891).  It  may  mean  the  cre- 
ator, producer  or  sustainer  of  the  world,  both  in  space  and  time  ; 
or,  he  who  animates  time  and  space,  or  gives  them  their  value  and 
use.  In  actual  formulas,  such  as  have  been  preserved,  its  meaning 
is  usually  the  former,  i.e.,  "the  world-sustainer."  In  later  myth 
he  was  personified  as  son  of  Con,  brother  of  the  sun  or  moon,  etc. 
Middendorf  prefers  for  Pachacama  the  simple  meaning  ''  Creator 
of  the  World,"  Ottanta,  p.  21. 

J  Ulloa,  Memoir es  sur  FAmerique,  i.  p.  105. 


PERUVIAN  MYTHS.  211 

tribute  the  chief  power  and  commandment  over  all 
things ;"  and  elsewhere,  "  in  all  this  realm  the  chief 
idoll  they  did  worship  was  Viracocha,  and  after  him  the 
Sunne."1 

Ere  sun  or  moon  was  made,  he  rose  from  the  bosom 
of  Lake  Titicaca,  and  presided  over  the  erection  of 
those  wondrous  cities  whoso  ruins  still  dot  its  islands 
and  western  shores,  and  whose  history  is  totally  lost  in 
the  night  of  time.  He  himself  constructed  these  lumi- 
naries and  placed  them  in  the  sky,  and  then  peopled 
the  earth  with  its  present  inhabitants.  From  the  lake 
he  journeyed  westward,  not  without  adventures,  for  he 
was  attacked  with  murderous  intent  by  the  beings 
whom  he  had  created.  When,  however,  scorning  such 
unequal  combat,  he  had  manifested  his  power  by  hurl- 
ing the  lightning  on  the  hill-sides  and  consuming  the 
forests,  they  recognized  their  maker,  and  humbled 
themselves  before  him.  He  was  reconciled,  and  taught 
them  arts  and  agriculture,  institutions  and  religion, 
meriting  the  title  they  gave  him  of  Pachayachachic, 
teacher  of  all  things.  At  last  he  disappeared  in  the 
western  ocean. 

Four  personages,  companions  or  sons,  were  closely 
connected  with  him.  They  rose  together  with  him  from 
the  lake,  or  else  were  his  first  creations.  These  are  the 

1  Acosta,  Hist,  of  the  New  World,  bk.  v.  chap.  4,  bk.  vi.  chap.  19, 
Eng.  trans.,  1704.  The  Quichua  culture-hero  Tonapa  was  appa- 
rently another  form  or  incarnation  of  Viracocha.  In  reference  to 
his  mythical  cyclus  see  Tres  Relaciones  Peruanas  (Madrid,  1879)  ; 
von  Tschudi,  Beitrdge;  Lafone-Quevedo,  El  Culto  de  Tonapa  (1892); 
Brinton,  American  Hero-Myths,  chap.  v.  Von  Tschudi  recognizes 
in  Viracocha  the  impersonation  of  Light,  and  places  him  in  an- 
tithesis to  Con,  whom  he  believes  to  represent  darkness  (Beitrage, 
p.  211). 


212     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  BED  RACE. 

four  mythical  civilizers  of  Peru,  who  another  legend 
asserts  emerged  from  the  cave  Pacarin  tampu,  the 
Lodgings  of  the  Dawn.1  To  these  Viracocha  gave  the 
earth,  to  one  the  north,  to  another  the  south,  to  a  third 
the  east,  to  a  fourth  the  west.  Their  names  are  very 
variously  given,  but  as  they  have  already  been  identi- 
fied with  the  four  winds,  we  can  omit  their  considera- 
tion here.*  Tradition,  as  has  rightly  been  observed  by 
the  Inca  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  transferred  a  portion  of 
the  story  of  Viracocha  to  Manco  Capac,  first  of  the  his- 
torical Incas.  King  Manco,  however,  was  a  real  char- 
acter, the  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  of  their  reigning  family, 
and  flourished  about  the  eleventh  century. 

There  is  a  general  resemblance  between  this  story 
and  that  of  Michabo.  Both  precede  and  create  the 
sun,  both  journey  to  the  west,  overcoming  opposition 
with  the  thunderbolt,  both  divide  the  world  between 

1  The  name  is  derived  from  tampu,  corrupted  by  the  Spaniards  to 
tambo,  an  inn,  and  paccari,  morning,  or  paccarin,  it  dawns,  which 
also  has  the  figurative  signification,  it  is  born.  It  may  therefore 
mean  either  Lodgings  of  the  Dawn,  or  as  the  Spaniards  usually 
translated  it,  House  of  Birth,  or  Production,  Casa  de  Producimiento. 

1  The  names  given  by  Balboa  (Hist,  du  P6rou,  p.  4)  and  Monte- 
sinos  (Ancien  Perou,  p.  5)  are  Manco,  Cacha,  Auca,  Uchu.  The 
meaning  of  Manco  is  unknown.  The  others  signify,  in  their  order, 
messenger,  enemy  or  traitor,  and  the  little  one.  The  myth  of 
Viracocha  is  given  in  its  most  antique  form  by  Juan  de  Betanzos, 
in  the  Historia  de  los  Ingas,  compiled  in  the  first  years  of  the  con- 
quest from  the  original  songs  and  legends.  It  is  quoted  in  Garcia, 
Origen  de  los  Indios,  lib.  v.  cap.  7.  Balboa,  Montesinos,  Acosta, 
and  others  have  also  furnished  me  some  incidents.  The  most 
scholarly  study  of  the  Viracocha  legends  is  that  by  the  late  von 
Tschudi,  published  in  his  Beitrage  zur  Kenntniss  des  Alien  Peru,  Vi- 
enna, 1891.  I  also  refer  to  that  in  my  American  Hero  Myths,  pp. 
168-202,  and  the  discussion  of  the  myth  by  Dr.  Middendorf  in  his 
introduction  to  the  drama  of  Ollanta,  Leipzig,  1890. 


QUETZALCOATL.  213 

the  four  winds,  both  were  the  fathers,  gods,  and  teach- 
ers of  their  nations.  Nor  does  it  cease  here.  Michabo, 
I  have  shown,  is  the  white  spirit  of  the  Dawn. 
Viracocha,  all  authorities  translate  "  the  fat  or  foam  of 
the  sea."  The  idea  conveyed  is  of  whiteness,  foam 
being  called  fat  from  its  color.1  So  true  is  this  that  to- 
day in  Peru  white  men  are  called  viracochas,  and  the 
early  explorers  constantly  received  the  same  epithet. 
The  name  is  a  metaphor.  The  dawn  rises  above  the 
horizon  as  the  snowy  foam  on  the  surface  of  a  lake. 

As  the  Algonkins  spoke  of  the  Abnakis,  their  white 
ancestors,  as  in  Mexican  legends  the  early  Toltecs  were 
of  fair  complexion,  so  the  Aymaras  sometimes  called 
the  first  four  brothers,  viracochas,  white  men."  It  is  the 
ancient  story  how 

"Light 

Sprung  from  the  deep,  and  from  her  native  east 
To  journey  through  the  airy  gloom  began." 

The  central  figure  of  Nahuatl  mythology  is  Quetzal- 
coatl.  Not  an  author  on  ancient  Mexico  but  has  some- 
thing to  say  about  the  glorious  days  when  he  ruled 
over  the  land.  No  one  denies  him  to  have  been  a  god, 
the  god  of  the  air,  highest  deity  of  the  Tezcucans,  in 

1  It  is  compounded  of  uira,  fat,  foam  (which  perhaps  is  akin  to 
yurac,  white),  and  cocha,  a  pond  or  lake.     This  simple  and  ancient 
derivation  has  not  pleased  modern  students.     Von  Tschudi  derives 
uira  from  uayra,  wind  or  air,  and  makes  Viracocha  originally  a  god 
of  the  winds  (Beitrage,  p.  196).     Middendorf  thinks  uira  refers  to 
lava  and  translates  therefore  ' '  Lord  of  the  Lava  Stream, "  or  the 
fluid  interior  of  the  earth  !   ( Ollanta,  p.  24. )    Lafone  Quevedo  gives 
a  still  more  fanciful  rendering.     (El  Culto  de  Tonapa,  1892.)     The 
birth  of  the  hero  god  from  the  fat  or  scum  of  the  sea  reappears  in 
theZuni  Creation  Myths  (Cushing,  u.  s.,  p.  379). 

2  Gomara,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  cap.  119,  in  Muller. 


214     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  RED  RACE. 

whose  honor  was  erected  the  pyramid  of  Cholula, 
grandest  monument  of  their  race.  But  many  insist 
that  he  was  at  first  a  man,  some  deified  king.  There 
were  in  truth  many  Quetzalcoatls,  for  his  high  priest 
always  bore  his  name,  but  he  himself  is  a  pure  creation 
of  the  fancy,  and  all  his  alleged  history  is  nothing  but 
a  myth. 

His  emblematic  name,  the  Bird-Serpent,  and  his 
connection  with  the  wind-cross,  I  have  already  ex- 
plained. Others  of  his  titles  were :  Ehecatl,  the  air ; 
Yolcuat,  the  rattlesnake ;  .Tohil,  the  rumbler ;  Huemac, 
the  strong  hand  ;  Nanihehecatle,  lord  of  the  four  winds; 
Tlaviz-calpan-tecutli,  lord  of  the  light  of  the  dawn. 
The  same  dualism  reappears  in  him  that  has  been 
noted  in  his  analogues  elsewhere.  He  is  both  lord  of 
the  eastern  light  and  the  winds. 

As  the  former,  he  was  born  of  a  virgin  in  the  land 
of  Tula  or  Tlapallan,  in  the  distant  Orient,  and  was 
high  priest  of  that  happy  realm.  The  morning  star 
was  his  symbol,  and  the  temple  of  Cholula  was  dedi- 
cated to  him  expressly  as  the  author  of  light.1  As  by 
days  we  measure  time,  he  was  the  alleged  inventor  of 
the  calendar.  Like  all  the  dawn  heroes,  he  too  was 
represented  as  of  white  complexion,  clothed  in  long 
white  robes,  and,  as  many  of  the  Aztec  gods,  with  a  full 
and  flowing  beard.* 

1  Brasseur,  Hist,  du  Mexique,  i.  p.  302. 

2  There  is  no  reason  to  lay  any  stress  upon  this  feature.     Beard 
was  nothing  uncommon  among  the  Aztecs  and  many  other  nations 
of  the  New  World.     It  was  held  to  add  dignity  to  the  appearance, 
and  therefore  Sahagun,  in  his  description  of  the  Mexican  idols, 
repeatedly  alludes  to  their  beards,  and  Miiller  quotes  various 
authorities  to  show  that  the  priests  wore  them  long  and  full  ( Amer. 
Urrdiyionen,  p.  429 ).     Not  only  was  Quetzalcoatl  himself  reported 


THE  CLOUD-SERPENT.  215 

When  his  earthly  work  was  done  he  too  returned  to 
the  east,  assigning  as  a  reason  that  the  sun,  the  ruler 
of  Tlapallan,  demanded  his  presence.  But  the  real 
motive  was  that  he  had  been  overcome  by  Tezcatlipoca, 
otherwise  called  Yoalliehecatl,  the  wind  or  spirit  of 
night,  who  had  descended  from  heaven  by  a  spider's 
web  and  presented  his  rival  with  a  draught  pretended 
to  confer  immortality,  but,  in  fact,  producing  uncon- 
trollable longing  for  home.  For  the  wind  and  the 
light  both  depart  when  the  gloaming  draws  near,  or 
when  the  clouds  spread  their  dark  and  shadowy  webs 
along  the  mountains,  and  pour  the  vivifying  rain  upon 
the  fields. 

In  his  other  character,  he  was  begot  of  the  breath 
of  Tonacateotl,  god  of  our  flesh  or  subsistence,1  or 
(according  to  Gomara)  was  the  son  of  Iztac  Mixcoatl, 
the  white  cloud  serpent,  the  spirit  of  the  tornado.  Mes- 
senger of  Tlaloc,  god  of  rains,  he  was  figuratively  said 
to  sweep  the  road  for  him,  since  in  that  country  vio- 
lent winds  are  the  precursors  of  the  wet  seasons. 
Wherever  he  went  all  manner  of  singing  birds  bore 
him  company,  emblems  of  the  whistling  breezes. 

When  he  finally  disappeared  in  the  far  east,  he  sent 
back  four  trusty  youths  who  had  ever  shared  his  for- 
tunes, "incomparably  swift  and  light  of  foot,"  with 
directions  to  divide  the  earth  between  them  and  rule 


to  have  been  of  fair  complexion — white  indeed — but  the  historian 
Ixtlilxochitl  says  the  old  legends  asserted  that  all  the  Toltecs, 
natives  of  Tollan,  or  Tula,  as  their  name  signifies,  were  so  like- 
wise. Still  more,  Aztlan,  the  traditional  home  of  the  Nahuas,  or 
Aztecs  proper,  means  literally  the  white  land,  according  to  one 
of  our  best  authorities  (Buschmann,  Ueber  die  Aztekischen  Ortsnamen, 
p.  612). 

1  Kingsborough,  Antiquities  of  Mexico,  v.  p.  109. 


216     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  RED  RACE. 

it  till  he  should  return  and  resume  his  power.  When 
he  would  promulgate  his  decrees,  his  herald  pro- 
claimed them  from  Tzatzitepec,  the  hill  of  shouting, 
with  such  a  mighty  voice  that  it  could  be  heard  a 
hundred  leagues  around.  The  arrows  which  he  shot 
transfixed  great  trees,  the  stones  he  threw  levelled 
forests,  and  when  he  laid  his  hands  on  the  rocks  the 
mark  was  indelible. 

Yet  as  thus  emblematic  of  the  thunder-storm,  he 
possessed  in  full  measure  its  better  attributes.  By 
shaking  his  sandals  he  gave  fire  to  men,  and  peace, 
plenty,  and  riches  blessed  his  subjects.  Tradition 
says  he  built  many  temples  to  Mictlanteuctli,  the  Aztec 
Pluto,  and  at  the  creation  of  the  sun  that  he  slew  all 
the  other  gods,  for  the  advancing  dawn  disperses  the 
spectral  shapes  of  night,  and  yet  all  its  vivifying 
power  does  but  result  in  increasing  the  number 
doomed  to  fall  before  the  remorseless  stroke  of  death.1 

His  symbols  were  the  bird,  the  serpent,  the  cross, 
and  the  flint,  representing  the  clouds,  the  lightning, 
the  four  winds,  and  the  thunderbolt.  Perhaps,  as 
Huemac,  the  Strong  Hand,  he  was  god  of  the  earth- 
quakes. The  Zapotecs  worshipped  such  a  deity  under 
the  image  of  this  member  carved  from  a  precious  stone,2 
calling  to  mind  the  "Kab-ul,"  the  Working  Hand, 
adored  by  the  Mayas,3  and  said  to  be  one  of  the  images 

1  The  myth  of  Quetzalcoatl  I  have  taken  chiefly  from  Sahagun, 
Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espana,  lib.  i.  cap.  5  ;  lib.  iii.   caps  3,  13,  14 ; 
lib.  x.  cap.  29  ;  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  lib.  vi.  cap.  24 ; 
and     the   Ancdes  de    Quauhtitian.    It  must   be    remembered   that 
the  Quichfe  legends  identify   him  positively  with   the  Tohil    of 
Central  America  (Le  Livre  Sacre,  p.  247). 

2  Padilla,  Davila,  Hist,  de  la  Prov.  de  Santiago  de  Mexico,  lib.  ii. 
cap.  89. 

3  Cogolludo,  Hist,  de  Yucathan,  lib.  iv.  cap.  8. 


PARALLEL  MYTHS.  217 

of  Itzamna,  their  hero  god.  The  human  hand,  "  that 
divine  tool,"  as  it  has  been  called,  might  well  be  re- 
garded by  the  reflective  mind  as  the  teacher  of  the 
arts  and  the  amulet  whose  magic  power  has  won  for 
man  what  vantage  he  has  gained  in  his  long  combat 
with  nature  and  his  fellows. 

I  might  next  discuss  the  culture  myth  of  the  Muys- 
cas,  whose  hero  Bochica  or  Nemqueteba  bore  the  other 
name  SUA,  the  White  One,  the  Day,  the  East,  an  ap- 
pellation they  likewise  gave  the  Europeans  on  their 
arrival.  He  had  taught  them  in  remotest  times  how 
to  manufacture  their  clothing,  build  their  houses,  cul- 
tivate the  soil,  and  reckon  time.  When  he  disappeared, 
he  divided  the  land  between  four  chiefs,  and  laid  down 
many  minute  rules  of  government  which  ever  after 
were  religiously  observed.1 

Or  I  might  choose  that  of  the  Caribs,  whose  pa- 
tron Tamu  called  Grandfather,  and  Old  man  of  the 
Sky,  was  a  man  of  light  complexion,  who  in  the  old 
times  came  from  the  east,  instructed  them  in  agricul- 
ture and  arts,  and  disappeared  in  the  same  direction, 
promising  them  assistance  in  the  future,  and  that  at 
death  he  would  receive  their  souls  on  the  summit  of 
the  sacred  tree,  and  transport  them  safely  to  his  home 
in  the  sky.2 

1  He  is  also  called  Idacanzas  and  Nemterequetaba.     Some  have 
maintained  a  distinction  between  Bochica  and  Sua,  which,  how- 
ever, has  not  been  shown.     The  best  authorities  on  the  mythology 
of  the  Muyscas  are  Piedrahita,  Hist,  de  la  Conq.  del  Nuevo  Reyno  de 
Granada,  1668   (who  is  copied  by  Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres, 
pp.  246  sqq.),  and  Simon,  Notieias  de  Tierra  Firme,  Parte  ii.     The 
myths  are  well  summed  up  by  E.  Bestrepo,  Aborigines  de  Colombia, 
cap.  ii.  iii. 

2  D'Orbigny,   L'Homme  Americain,   ii.   p.  319,  and   Rochefort, 
Hist,  des  Isles  Antilles,  p.  482.    The  name  has  various  orthographies, 


218     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  BED  RACE. 

Or  from  the  more  fragmentary  mythology  of  ruder 
nations,  proof  might  be  brought  of  the  well  nigh  uni- 
versal reception  of  these  fundamental  views.  As,  for 
instance,  when  the  Mandans  of  the  Upper  Missouri 
speak  of  their  first  ancestor  as  a  son  of  the  West,  who 
preserved  them  at  the  flood,  and  whose  garb  was  always 
of  four  milk-white  wolfskins  i1  and  when  the  Pimos,  a 
people  of  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Gila,  relate  that  their 
birthplace  was  where  the  sun  rises,  that  there  for  genera- 
tions they  led  a  joyous  life,  until  their  beneficent  first 
parent  disappeared  in  the  heavens.  From  that  time, 
say  they,  God  lost  sight  of  them,  and  they  wandered 
west,  and  further  west  till  they  reached  their  present 
seats.' 

Or  I  might  instance  the  Tupis  of  Brazil,  who  were 
named  after  the  first  of  men,  Tupa,  he  who  alone  sur- 
vived the  flood,  who  was  one  of  four  brothers,  who  is 
described  as  an  old  man  of  fair  complexion,  un  vieillard 
blanc?  and  who  is  now  their  highest  divinity,  ruler  of 

Tamu,  Tamoi,  Tamou,  Itamoulou,  and  is  probably  identical  with 
the  Zume  of  the  Guaranis  of  Paraguay,  and  who,  they  said,  came 
from  the  sun-rising,  and  was  their  instructor  in  arts.  N.  del  Techo, 
Hist.  Prov.  Paraqvariae,  lib.  vi.  cap.  iv.  Dr.  Ehrenreich  considers 
him  identical  with  the  Kamu  of  the  Arawacks,  and  the  Kaboi  of 
the  Carayas.  In  the  legend  of  the  latter,  he  dwelt  with  their  an- 
cestors in  the  underworld  until  a  bird,  the  Dichohphos  cristatus,  by 
its  call,  led  them  to  light  and  life  in  the  upper  world.  Die  Karay- 
astdmme,  p.  39(1891). 

1  Catlin,  Letters  and  Notes,  Letter  22. 

2  Journal  of  Capt.  Johnson,    in   Emory,  Reconnaissance  of  New 
Mexico,  p.  601. 

8  "II  a  fait  tout,"  says  Father  Ives  d'Evreux,  Hist,  de  Marignan, 
p.  280.  Tupa  now  means  god  and  thunder.  Further  references 
by  M.  de  Charency,  Revue  Americaine,  ii.  p.  317.  Another  similar 
Tupi  myth  is  that  of  Timondonar  and  Aricoute.  They  were 
brothers,  the  one  of  fair  complexion,  the  other  dark.  They  were 


THE  DAWN.  219 

the  lightning  and  the  storm,  whose  voice  is  the  thun- 
der, and  who  is  the  guardian  of  their  nation.  But  is 
it  not  evident  that  these  and  all  such  legends  are  but 
variations  of  those  already  analyzed  ? 

In  thus  removing  one  by  one  the  wrappings  of  sym- 
bolism, and  displaying  at  the  centre  and  summit  of 
these  various  creeds,  He  who  is  throned  in  the  sky, 
who  comes  with  the  dawn,  who  manifests  himself 
in  the  light  and  the  storm,  and  whose  ministers  are 
the  four  winds,  I  set  up  no  new  god.  The  ancient 
Israelites  prayed  to  him  who  was  seated  above  the 
firmament,  who  commanded  the  morning  and  caused 
the  day-spring  to  know  its  place,  who  answered  out 
of  the  whirlwind,  and  whose  envoys  were  the  four 
winds,  the  four  cherubim  described  with  such  wealth 
of  imagery  in  the  introduction  to  the  book  of  Ezekiel. 
The  Mahometan  adores  "  the  clement  and  merciful 
Lord  of  the  Daybreak,"  whose  star  is  in  the  east,  who 
rides  on  the  storm,  and  whose  breath  is  the  wind. 

The  primitive  man  in  the  New  World  also  associated 
these  physical  phenomena  as  products  of  an  invisible 
power,  conceived  under  human  form,  called  by  name, 
worshipped  as  one,  and  of  whom  all  related  the  same 
myth  differing  but  in  unimportant  passages.  This  was 
the  primeval  religion.  It  was  not  monotheism,  for 
there  were  many  other  gods ;  it  was  not  pantheism,  for 
there  was  no  blending  of  the  cause  with  the  effects ; 
still  less  was  it  fetichism,  an  adoration  of  sensuous 
objects,  for  these  were  recognized  as  effects.  It  teaches 
us  that  the  idea  of  God  neither  arose  from  the  phenom- 
enal world  nor  was  sunk  in  it,  as  is  the  shallow 
theory  of  the  day,  but  is  as  Kant  long  ago  defined  it, 

constantly  struggling,  and  Aricoute,  which  means  the  cloudy  or 
stormy  day,  was  worsted  (Fd.  Denis,  Une  Fete  Bresilienne,  p.  88). 


220     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  RED  RACE. 

a  conviction  of  a  highest  and  first  principle  which 
hinds  all  phenomena  into  one. 

One  point  of  these  legends  deserves  closer  attention 
for  the  influence  it  exerted  on  the  historical  fortunes 
of  the  race.  The  dawn  heroes  were  conceived  as  of 
fair  complexion,  mighty  in  war,  and  though  absent  for 
a  season,  destined  to  return  and  claim  their  ancient 
power.  Here  was  one  of  those  unconscious  prophe- 
cies, pointing  to  the  advent  of  a  white  race  from  the 
east,  that  wrote  the  doom  of  the  red  man  in  letters  of 
fire. 

Historians  have  marvelled  at  the  instantaneous  col- 
lapse of  the  empires  of  Mexico,  Peru,  the  Mayas,  and 
the  Natchez,  before  a  handful  of  Spanish  filibusters. 
The  fact  was,  wherever  the  whites  appeared  they  were 
connected  with  these  ancient  predictions  of  the  spirit 
of  the  dawn  returning  to  claim  his  own.  Obscure  and 
ominous  prophecies,  "  texts  of  bodeful  song,"  rose  in 
the  memory  of  the  natives,  and  paralyzed  their  arms. 

"  For  a  very  long  time,"  said  Montezuma,  at  his  first 
interview  with  Cortes,  "  has  it  been  handed  down  that 
we  are  not  the  original  possessors  of  this  land,  but  came 
hither  from  a  distant  region  under  the  guidance  of  a 
ruler  who  afterwards  left  us  and  returned.  We  have 
ever  believed  that  some  day  his  descendants  would 
come  and  resume  dominion  over  us.  Inasmuch  as  you 
are  from  that  direction,  which  is  toward  the  rising  of 
the  sun,  and  serve  so  great  a  king  as  you  describe,  we 
believe  that  he  is  also  our  natural  lord,  and  are  ready 
to  submit  ourselves  to  him."1 

The  gloomy  words  of  Nezahualcoyotl,  a  former 
prince  of  Tezcuco,  foretelling  the  arrival  of  white  and 

1  Cortes,  Carta  Primera,  pp.  113,  114 


PRESENTIMENTS.  221 

bearded  men  from  the  east,  who  would  wrest  the  power 
from  the  hands  of  the  rightful  rulers  and  destroy  in  a 
day  the  edifice  of  centuries,  were  ringing  in  his  ears. 
But  they  were  not  so  gloomy  to  the  minds  of  his  down- 
trodden subjects,  for  that  day  was  to  liberate  them  from 
the  thralls  of  servitude.  Therefore  when  they  first 
beheld  the  fair  complexioned  Spaniards,  they  rushed 
into  the  water  to  embrace  the  prows  of  their  vessels, 
and  despatched  messengers  throughout  the  land  to 
proclaim  the  return  of  Quetzalcoatl.1 

The  noble  Mexican  was  not  alone  in  his  presenti- 
ments. When  Hernando  de  Soto  on  landing  in  Peru 
first  met  the  Inca  Huascar,  the  latter  related  an  ancient 
prophecy  which  his  father  Huayna  Capac  had  repeated 
on  his  dying  bed,  to  the  effect  that  in  the  reign  of  the 
thirteenth  Inca,  white  men  (viracochas)  of  surpassing 
strength  and  valor  would  come  from  their  father  the 
Sun  and  subject  to  their  rule  the  nations  of  the  world. 
"I  command  you,"  said  the  dying  monarch,  "to  yield 
them  homage  and  obedience,  for  they  will  be  of  a 
nature  superior  to  ours."1 

The  natives  of  Haiti  told  Columbus  of  similar  pre- 
dictions long  anterior  to  his  arrival.3  The  Maryland 
Indians  said  the  whites  were  an  ancient  generation 
who  had  come  to  life  again,  and  had  returned  to  seize 
their  former  land;4  and  the  Lenape  of  the  Delaware 
told  the  Moravian  missionaries  that  it  was  an  ancient 
belief  that  divine  men  should  come  to  them  from  the 
east,  and  for  these  they  took  the  first  Europeans.5 

Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espana,  lib.  xii.  caps.  2,  3. 
La  Vega,  Hist,  des  Incas. ,  lib.  ix.  cap.  15. 
Peter  Martyr,  De  Eeb.  Oceanicis,  Dec.  iii.  lib.  vii. 
Blomes,  State  of  his  Maj.  Terr.,  p,  199. 

Brinton,  The  Lenape  and  their  Legends,  p.  132  and  authorities 
there  quoted. 


222     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  BED  RACE. 

Father  Lizana  has  preserved  in  the  original  Maya 
tongue  several  such  foreboding  chants.  Doubtless  he 
has  adapted  them  somewhat  to  proselytizing  purposes, 
but  they  seem  very  likely  to  be  close  copies  of  authentic 
aboriginal  songs,  referring  to  the  return  of  Itzamna  or 
Kukulcan,  lord  of  the  dawn  and  the  four  winds,  wor- 
shipped at  Cozumel  and  Palenque  under  the  sign  of 
the  cross.  An  extract  will  show  their  character : — 

"  At  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  Age  of  the  world, 
While  the  cities  of  Itza  and  Tancah  still  nourish, 
The  sign  of  the  Lord  of  the  Sky  will  appear, 
The  light  of  the  dawn  will  illumine  the  land, 
And  the  cross  will  be  seen  by  the  nations  of  men. 
A  father  to  you,  will  He  be,  Itzalanos, 
A  brother  to  you,  ye  natives  of  Tancah  ; 
Receive  well  the  bearded  guests  who  are  coming, 
Bringing  the  sign  of  the  Lord  from  the  daybreak, 
Of  the  Lord  of  the  Sky,  so  clement  yet  powerful. ' ' l 

The  older  writers,  Gomara,  Cogolludo,  Villagutierre, 
have  taken  pains  to  collect  other  instances  of  this  pre- 
sentiment of  the  arrival  and  domination  of  a  white 
race.2  Later  historians,  fashionably  incredulous  of 
what  they  cannot  explain,  have  passed  them  over  in 
silence.  That  they  existed  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and 

1  Lizana,  Hist,  de  Nuestra  Senara  de  Itzamal,  lib.  ii.  cap.  i.   in 
Brasseur,  Hist,  du  Mexique,  ii.  p.  605.     The  prophecies  are  of  the 
priest  who  bore  the  title — not  name  —  chilan  balam,  and  whose 
offices  were  those  of  divination  and  astrology.     The  verse  claims  to 
date  from  about  1450,  and  was  very  well  known  throughout  Yuca- 
tan, so  it  is  said.     The  "Books  of  Chilan  Balam"  copied  in  fac- 
simile by  the  late  Dr.  C.  H.  Berendt  are  in  my  possession.     They 
contain  several  ancient  prophecies  of  a  similar  character.     I  have 
described  them  in  Essays  of  an  Americanist,  pp.  255-273. 

2  The  benevolent  hero-god  of  the  Tarascos,  by  name  Surites,  was 
also  said  to  have  predicted  the  arrival  of  the  whites  (F.  X.  Alegre, 
Hist.  delaComp.  JesusenlaNuevaEspana,  Tom.  i.  p.  91). 


THE  EXPECTED  SAVIOR.  223 

that  they  arose  in  the  way  I  have  stated,  is  almost 
proved  by  the  fact  that  in  Mexico,  Bogota,  and  Peru, 
the  whites  were  at  once  called  from  the  proper  names 
of  the  heroes  of  the  Dawn,  Suas,  Viracochas,  and  Quetzal- 
coatls. 

When  the  church  of  Rome  had  crushed  remorselessly 
the  religions  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  all  hope  of  the  return 
of  Quetzalcoatl  and  Viracocha  perished  with  the  insti- 
tutions of  which  they  were  the  mythical  founders.  But 
it  was  only  to  arise  under  new  incarnations  and  later 
names.  As  well  forbid  the  heart  of  youth  to  bud  forth 
in  tender  love,  as  that  of  oppressed  nationalities  to 
cherish  the  faith  that  some  ideal  hero,  some  royal  man, 
will  yet  arise,  and  break  in  fragments  their  fetters,  and 
lead  them  to  glory  and  honor. 

When  the  name  of  Quetzalcoatl  was  no  longer  heard 
from  the  teocalli  of  Cholula,  that  of  Montezuma  took 
its  place.  From  ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  the  river 
Gila  to  the  Nicaraguan  lake,  nearly  every  aboriginal 
nation  still  cherishes  the  memory  of  Montezuma,  not 
as  the  last  unfortunate  ruler  of  a  vanished  state,  but  as 
the  prince  of  their  golden  era,  their  Saturnian  age, 
lord  of  the  winds  and  waters,  and  founder  of  their  in- 
stitutions. When,  in  the  depth  of  the  tropical  forests, 
the  antiquary  disinters  some  statue  of  earnest  mien, 
the  natives  whisper  one  to  the  other,  "  Montezuma ! 
Montezuma!"1 

In  the  legends  of  New  Mexico  he  is  the  founder  of 
the  pueblos,  and  intrusted  to  their  guardianship  the 
sacred  fire.  Departing,  he  planted  a  tree,  and  bade 
them  watch  it  well,  for  when  that  tree  should  fall  and 
the  fire  die  out,  then  he  would  return  from  the  far  East, 
and  lead  his  loyal  people  to  victory  and  power.  When 
1  Squier,  Travels  in  Nicaragua,  ii.  p.  35. 


224     THE  SUPREME  GODS  OF  THE  EED  RACE. 

the  last  generation  saw  their  land  glide,  mile  by 
mile,  into  the  rapacious  hands  of  the  Yankees — when 
new  and  strange  diseases  desolated  their  homes — 
finally,  when  in  1846  the  sacred  tree  was  prostrated, 
and  the  guardian  of  the  holy  fire  was  found  dead  on 
its  cold  ashes,  then  they  thought  the  hour  of  deliver- 
ance had  come,  and  every  morning  at  earliest  dawn  a 
watcher  mounted  to  the  house-tops,  and  gazed  long 
and  anxiously  in  the  lightening  east,  hoping  to  descry 
the  noble  form  of  Montezuma  advancing  through  the 
morning  beams  at  the  head  of  a  conquering  army.1 

Groaning  under  the  iron  rule  of  the  Spaniards,  the 
Peruvians  would  not  believe  that  the  last  of  the  Incas 
had  perished  an  outcast  and  a  wanderer  in  the  forests 
of  the  Cordilleras.  For  centuries  they  clung  to  the 
persuasion  that  he  had  but  retired  to  another  mighty 
kingdom  beyond  the  mountains,  and  in  due  time 
would  return  and  sweep  the  haughty  Castilian  back 
into  the  ocean. 

In  1781,  a  mestizo,  Jose  Gabriel  Condorcanqui,  of 
the  province  of  Tinta,  took  advantage  of  this  strong 
delusion,  and  binding  around  his  forehead  the  scarlet 
fillet  of  the  Incas,  proclaimed  himself  the  long  lost 
Inca  Tupac  Amaru,  and  a  true  child  of  the  sun. 
Thousands  of  Indians  flocked  to  his  standard,  and  at 
their  head  he  took  the  field,  vowing  the  extermination 
of  every  soul  of  the  hated  race.  Seized  at  last  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  condemned  to  a  public  execution,  so 

1  Whipple,  Report  on  the  Indian  Tribes,  p.  36.  Emory,  Recon. 
of  New  Mexico,  p.  64.  The  latter  adds  that  among  the  Pueblo 
Indians,  the  Apaches,  and  Navajos,  the  name  of  Montezuma  is 
"as  familiar  as  Washington  to  us."  This  is  the  more  curious,  as 
neither  the  Pueblo  Indians  nor  either  of  the  other  tribes  is  in 
any  way  related  to  the  Aztec  race  by  language,  as  has  been  shown 
by  Dr.  Buschmann,  Die  Voelker  und  Sprachen  Neu  Mexicos,  p.  262. 


THE  MESSIAH  CRAZE.  225 

profound  was  the  reverence  with  which  he  had  inspired 
his  followers,  so  full  their  faith  in  his  claims,  that,  un- 
deterred by  the  threats  of  the  soldiery,  they  prostrated 
themselves  on  their  faces  before  this  last  of  the  children 
of  the  sun,  as  he  passed  on  to  a  felon's  death.1 

But  we  need  not  go  so  wide  either  in  time  or  space 
to  see  how  deeply  this  hope  is  rooted  in  the  native 
mind.  It  is  but  a  few  years  since  the  Indians  on  our 
reservations,  in  wild  despair  at  the  misery  and  deaths 
of  those  dearest  to  them,  broke  out  in  mad  appeals,  in 
furious  ceremonies,  to  induce  that  longed  for  Saviour 
and  friend  to  appear.  The  heartless  whites  called  it  a 
"ghost  dance"  and  a  "Messiah  craze,"  and  shot  the 
participants  in  their  tracks,  hastening  the  implacable 
destiny  against  which  the  poor  wretches  had  prayed 
in  vain.2 

These  fancied  reminiscences,  these  unfounded  hopes, 
so  vague,  so  child-like,  let  no  one  dismiss  them  as  the 
babblings  of  ignorance.  Contemplated  in  their  broad- 
est meaning  as  characteristics  of  the  race  of  man,  they 
have  an  interest  higher  than  any  history,  beyond  that 
of  any  poetry.  They  point  to  the  recognized  dis- 
crepancy between  what  man  is,  and  what  he  feels  he 
should  be,  must  be  ;  they  are  the  indignant  protests  of 
the  race  against  acquiescence  in  the  world's  evil  as  the 
world's  law ;  they  are  the  incoherent  utterances  of  those 
yearnings  for  nobler  conditions  of  existence,  which  no 
savagery,  no  ignorance,  nothing  but  a  false  and  lying 
enlightenment  can  wholly  extinguish. 

1  Humboldt,  Essay  on  New  Spain,  bk.  ii.  chap,  vi.,  Eng.  Trans  ; 
Anskhten  der  Natur,  ii.  pp.  357,  386. 

2  See  the  touching  account  of   Warren  K.   Moorehead  in  the 
American  Antiquarian,  May,  1891  ;  also  Alice  C-  Fletcher  in  Jour. 
Am.  Folk-lore,  March,  1891. 

15 


226       MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  MYTHS  OP  THE  CEEATION,  THE  DELUGE,  THE 
EPOCHS  OP  NATURE,  AND  THE  LAST  DAY. 

Cosmogonies  usually  portray  the  action  of  the  SPIRIT  on  the 
WATERS.  —  Those  of  the  Muscogees,  Athapascas,  Quiches,  Zunis, 
Mixtecs,  Iroquois,  Algonkins,  and  others.  —  The  Flood-Myth  an 
unconscious  attempt  to  reconcile  a  creation  in  time  with  the 
eternity  of  matter.  —  Proof  of  this  from  American  mythology.  — 
Characteristics  of  American  Flood-Myths.  —  The  person  saved 
usually  the  first  man.  —  The  number  seven.  —  Their  Ararats.  — 
The  r61e  of  birds.  —  The  confusion  of  tongues.  —  The  Aztec, 
Quiche",  Algonkin,  Tupi,  and  earliest  Sanscrit  flood-myths.  —  The 
belief  in  Epochs  of  Nature  a  further  result  of  this  attempt  at 
reconciliation.  —  Its  forms  among  Peruvians,  Mayas,  and  Aztecs. 
—  The  expectation  of  the  End  of  the  World  a  corollary  of  this 
belief.  —  Views  of  various  nations. 


the  reason  rest  content  with  the  belief  that 
the  universe  always  was  as  it  now  is,  it  would  save 
much  beating  of  brains.  Such  is  the  comfortable  con- 
dition of  the  Eskimos,  the  Rootdiggers  of  California, 
the  most  brutish  specimens  of  humanity  everywhere. 
Vain  to  inquire  their  story  of  creation,  for,  like  the 
knife-grinder  of  anti-  Jacobin  renown,  they  have  no 
story  to  tell.  It  never  occurred  to  them  that  the  earth 
had  a  beginning,  or  underwent  any  greater  changes 
than  those  of  the  seasons.1  But  no  sooner  does  the 

i  So  far  as  this  applies  to  the  Eskimos,  it  might  be  questioned 
on  the  authority  of  Paul  Egede,  whose  valuable  Nachrichten  von 
Gronland  contains  several  flood-myths,  etc.  But  these  Eskimos, 


WATER  THE  FIRST.  227 

mind  begin  to  reflect,  the  intellect  to  employ  itself  on 
higher  themes  than  the  needs  of  the  body,  than  the 
law  of  causality  exerts  its  power,  and  the  man,  out  of 
such  material  as  he  has  at  hand,  manufactures  for  him- 
self a  Theory  of  Things. 

What  these  materials  were  has  been  shown  in  the 
last  few  chapters.  A  simple  primitive  substance,  a 
divinity  to  mould  it — these  are  the  requirements  of 
every  cosmogony.  Concerning  the  first  no  nation  ever 
hesitated.  All  agree  that  before  time  began  water  held 
all  else  in  solution,  covered  and  concealed  everything. 
The  reasons  for  this  assumed  priority  of  water  have 
been  already  touched  upon.  Did  a  tribe  dwell  near 
some  great  sea  others  can  be  imagined.  The  land  is 
limited,  peopled,  stable ;  the  ocean  fluctuating,  waste, 
boundless.  It  insatiably  swallows  all  rains  and  rivers, 
quenches  sun  and  moon  in  its  dark  chambers,  and 
raves  against  its  bounds  as  a  beast  of  prey. 

Awe  and  fear  are  the  sentiments  it  inspires ;  in 
Aryan  tongues  its  synonyms  are  the  desert  and  the 
night.1  It  produces  an  impression  of  immensity,  in- 
finity, formlessness,  and  barren  changeableness,  well 
suited  to  a  notion  of  chaos.  It  is  sterile,  receiving  all 
things,  producing  nothing.  Hence  the  necessity  of  a 

like  those  of  the  South,  had  had  for  generations  intercourse  with 
European  missionaries  and  sailors,  and  as  the  other  tribes  of  their 
stock  were  singularly  devoid  of  corresponding  traditions,  it  is 
likely  that  in  Greenland  they  were  of  foreign  origin.  The  Eskimo 
highest  divinity,  Tornarsuk,  was  not  presented  in  the  ancient 
stories  as  the  Creator  of  things.  (Morillot,  Mythologie  des  Esqui- 
maux, ActesSoc.  Philol,  iv.  p.  232.) 

1  Pictet,  Origines  Indo-Europeennes  in  Michelet,  La  Mer.  The 
latter  has  many  eloquent  and  striking  remarks  on  the  impressions 
left  by  the  great  ocean. 


228       MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

creative  power  to  act  upon  it,  as  it  were  to  impregnate 
its  barren  germs.  Some  cosmogonies  find  this  in  one, 
some  in  another  personification  of  divinity.  Commonest 
of  all  is  that  of  the  wind,  or  its  emblem  the  bird,  types 
of  the  breath  of  life. 

Thus  the  venerable  record  in  Genesis,  translated  in 
the  authorized  version  "  and  the  Spirit  of  God  moved 
on  the  face  of  the  waters,"  may  with  equal  correctness 
be  rendered  "  and  a  mighty  wind  brooded  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  waters,"  presenting  the  picture  of  a  primeval 
ocean  fecundated  by  the  wind  as  a  bird.1  The  eagle 
that  in  the  Finnish  epic  of  Kalewala  floated  over  the 
waves  and  hatched  the  land,  the  egg  that  in  Chinese 
legend  swam  hither  and  thither  until  it  grew  to  a  con- 
tinent, the  giant  Ymir,  the  rustler  (as  wind  in  trees), 
from  whose  flesh,  says  the  Edda,  our  globe  was  made 
and  set  to  float  like  a  speck  in  the  vast  sea  between 
Muspel  and  Niflheim,  all  are  the  same  tale  repeated  by 
different  nations  in  different  ages.  But  why  take  illus- 
trations from  the  old  world  when  they  are  so  plenty  in 
the  new  ? 

Before  the  creation,  said  the  Muscokis,  a  great  body 
of  water  was  alone  visible.  Two  pigeons  flew  to  and 
fro  over  its  waves,  and  at  last  spied  a  blade  of  grass 
rising  above  the  surface.  Dry  land  gradually  followed, 
and  the  islands  and  continents  took  their  present 


Whether  this  is  an  authentic  aboriginal  myth,  is  not 
beyond  question.  No  such  doubt  attaches  to  that  of 
the  Athapascas.  With  singular  unanimity,  most  of 

1  *'  Spiritus  Dei  incubuit  superficei  aquarum  "  is  the  translation 
of  one  writer.     The  word  for  spirit  in  Hebrew,  as  in  Latin,  origi- 
nally meant  wind,  as  I  have  before  remarked. 

2  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  i.  p.  266. 


CREATION  MYTHS.  229 

the  northwest  branches  of  this  stock  trace  their  descent 
from  a  raven,  "  a  mighty  bird,  whose  eyes  were  fire, 
whose  glances  were  lightning,  and  the  clapping  of 
whose  wings  was  thunder.  On  his  descent  to  the  ocean, 
the  earth  instantly  rose  and  remained  on  the  surface 
of  the  water.  This  omnipotent  bird  then  called  forth 
all  the  variety  of  animals."1 

Very  similar,  but  with  more  of  poetic  finish,  is  the 
legend  of  the  Quiches : — 

"  This  is  the  first  word  and  the  first  speech.  There 
were  neither  men  nor  brutes ;  neither  birds,  fish,  nor 
crabs,  stick  nor  stone,  valley  nor  mountain,  stubble 
nor  forest,  nothing  but  the  sky.  The  face  of  the  land 
was  hidden.  There  was  naught  but  the  salient  sea  and 
the  sky.  There  was  nothing  joined,  nor  any  sound, 
nor  thing  that  stirred ;  neither  any  to  do  evil,  nor  to 
rumble  in  the  heavens,  nor  a  walker  on  foot ;  only  the 
silent  waters,  only  the  pacified  ocean,  only  it  in  its 
calm.  Nothing  was  but  stillness,  and  rest,  and  dark- 
ness, and  the  night ;  nothing  but  the  Maker  and 
Moulder,  the  Hurler,  the  Bird-Serpent.  In  the  waters, 
in  a  limpid  twilight,  covered  with  green  feathers,  slept 
the  mothers  and  the  fathers."2 

Over  this  passed  Hurakan,  the  mighty  wind,  and 
called  out  Earth !  and  straightway  the  solid  land  was 
there. 

Turning  to  the  pueblo-dwelling  Zunis,  we  hear  as 
follows : 

"  With  the  substance  of  himself  did  the  all-father 
Awonawilona  impregnate  the  great  water,  the  world- 

1  Mackenzie,  Hist,  of  the  Fur  Trade,  p.  83  ;  Eichardson,  Arctic 
Expedition,  p.  239. 

2  Ximenes,  Or.  de  los  Ind.  de  Guat. ,  pp.  5-7.     I  translate  freely, 
following  Ximenes  rather  than  Brasseur. 


230       MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

holding  sea,  so  that  scums  rose  upon  its  surface,  wax- 
ing wide  and  apart,  until  they  became  the  all-contain- 
ing earth  and  the  all-covering  sky.  From  the  lying 
together  of  these  twain  upon  the  great  world  waters, 
all  beings  of  earth,  men  and  creatures  came  to  exist, 
and  firstly  in  the  fourfold  womb  of  the  world.  In  the 
nethermost  of  the  cave-wombs  of  the  world,  the  seed 
of  men  and  creatures  took  form  and  life.  The  earth 
lay  like  a  vast  island,  wet  and  shifting,  amid  the  great 
waters,  and  the  men  groped  about  down  in  the  murk 
underworld.  Then  arose  the  master  magician,  Janau- 
luha,  and  bearing  a  staff  plumed  and  covered  with 
feathers,  he  guided  them  upward  to  the  world  of  light. 
There,  by  the  power  of  his  wand,  caused  he  to  be  and 
become  birds  of  shining  plumage,  the  raven  and  the 
macaw,  who  were  indeed  the  spirits  of  the  winter  and 
the  summer,  and  the  totems  of  the  two  first  clans  of 
men."1 

The  picture  writings  of  the  Mixtecs  preserved  a 
similar  cosmogony :  "  In  the  year  and  in  the  day  of 
clouds,  before  ever  were  either  years  or  days,  the  world 
lay  in  darkness ;  all  things  were  orderless,  and  a  water 
covered  the  slime  and  the  ooze  that  the  earth  then 
was."  By  the  efforts  of  two  winds,  called,  from  astro- 
logical associations,  that  of  Nine  Serpents  and  that  of 
Nine  Caverns,  personified  one  as  a  bird  and  one  as  a 
winged  serpent,  the  waters  subsided  and  the  land 
dried.8 

In  the  birds  that  here  play  such  conspicuous  parts, 
we  cannot  fail  to  recognize  the  winds  and  the  clouds  ; 
but  more  especially  the  dark  thunder  cloud,  soaring  in 

1  Freely  transcribed  from  Mr.  Gushing' s  Zuni  Creation  Myths 
(1896). 
1  Garcia,  Or.  de  los  Indios,  lib.  v.  cap.  4. 


CREATION  MYTHS.  231 

space  at  the  beginning  of  things,  most  forcible  emblem 
of  the  aerial  powers.  They  are  the  symbols  of  that 
divinity  which  acted  on  the  passive  and  sterile  waters, 
the  fitting  result  being  the  production  of  a  universe. 
Other  symbols  of  the  divine  could  also  be  employed, 
and  the  meaning  remain  the  same.  Or  were  the  fancy 
too  helpless  to  suggest  any,  they  could  be  dispensed 
with,  and  purely  natural  agencies  take  their  place. 

The  creation  myth  of  the  Guaymis  of  Costa  Rica 
related  that  the  mysterious  being  Noncomala  formed 
the  world  and  the  waters,  but  they  were  in  darkness 
and  clouds.  'Wading  into  the  river  he  met  and  fecun- 
dated the  water-sprite  Rutbe,  who  bore  him  twins, 
brothers,  who  lived  and  throve  with  their  mother  for 
twelve  years.  Then  they  left  her,  one  becoming  the 
sun  the  other  the  moon,  the  twin  lights  of  the  world.1 

The  unimaginative  Iroquois  narrated  that  when  their 
primitive  female  ancestor  was  kicked  from  the  sky  by 
her  irate  spouse,  there  was  as  yet  no  land  to  receive 
her,  but  that  it  "  suddenly  bubbled  up  under  her  feet, 
and  waxed  bigger,  so  that  ere  long  a  whole  country  was 
perceptible."2  Or  that  certain  amphibious  animals, 
the  beaver,  the  otter,  and  the  muskrat,  seeing  her 
descent,  hastened  to  dive  and  bring  up  sufficient  mud 
to  construct  an  island  for  her  residence.3  The  muskrat 
is  also  the  simple  machinery  in  the  cosmogony  of  the 
Takahlis  of  the  northwest  coast,  the  Osages  and  some 
Algonkin  tribes. 

These  latter  were,  indeed,  keen  enough  to  perceive 
that  there  was  really  no  creation  in  such  an  account. 
Dry  land  was  wanting,  but  earth  was  there,  though 

1  Juan  Melendez,  Tesoros  Verdaderos  de  las  Yndias,  p.  4. 
a  Doc.  Hist,  of  New  York,  iv.  p.  130  (circ.  1650). 
8  Ed.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  An.  1636,  p.  101. 


232       MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

hidden  by  boundless  waters.  Consequently,  they 
spoke  distinctly  of  the  action  of  the  muskrat  in  bring- 
ing it  to  the  surface  as  a  formation  only.  Michabo 
directed  him,  and  from  the  mud  formed  islands  and 
main  land.  But  when  the  subject  of  creation  was 
pressed,  they  replied  they  knew  nothing  of  that,  or 
roundly  answered  the  questioner  that  he  was  talking 
nonsense.1  Their  myth,  almost  identical  with  that  of 
their  neighbors,  was  recognized  by  them  to  be  not  of  a 
construction,  but  a  reconstruction  only ;  a  very  judi- 
cious distinction,  but  one  which  has  a  most  important 
corollary.2 

A  reconstruction  supposes  a  previous  existence.  This 
they  felt,  and  had  something  to  say  about  an  earth  an- 
terior to  this  of  ours,  but  one  without  light  or  hu- 
man inhabitants.  A  lake  burst  its  bounds  and  sub- 
merged it  wholly.  This  is  obviously  nothing  but  a 
mere  and  meagre  fiction,  invented  to  explain  the  ori- 
gin of  the  primeval  ocean.  But  mark  it  well,  for  this 
is  the  germ  of  those  marvellous  myths  of  the  Epochs 
of  Nature,  the  catastrophes  of  the  universe,  the  del- 
uges of  water  and  of  fire,  which  have  laid  such  strong 
hold  on  the  human  fancy  in  every  land  and  in  every 
age. 

The  purpose  for  which  this  addition  was  made  to 
the  simpler  legend  is  clear  enough.  It  was  to  avoid  the 
dilemma  of  a  creation  from  nothing  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  eternity  of  matter  on  the  other.  Ex  nihilo  nihil 

1  Ed.  delaNouv.  France,  An.  1634,  p.  13. 

2  Various  animals  take  the  place  of  the  muskrat  in  this  myth  as 
it  occurred  among  other  tribes.     Among  the  lichees  (or  Yuchi) 
the  crawfish  brought  the  mud  from  the  bottom,  and  the  buzzard, 
by  flapping  its  wings,  formed  the  hills.     A.  S.  Gatschet,  Amer. 
Anthropologist,  1893,  p.  280. 


ANTERIOR  WORLDS.  233 

is  an  apothegm  indorsed  alike  by  the  profoundest  meta- 
physicians and  the  rudest  savages. 

But  the  other  horn  was  no  easier.  To  escape  accept- 
ing the  theory  that  the  world  had  ever  been  as  it  now 
is,  was  the  only  object  of  a  legend  of  its  formation. 
As  either  lemma  conflicts  with  fundamental  laws  of 
thought,  this  escape  was  eagerly  adopted,  and  in  the 
suggestive  words  of  Prescott,  men  "  sought  relief  from 
the  oppressive  idea  of  eternity  by  breaking  it  up  into 
distinct  cycles  or  periods  of  time."1 

Vain  but  characteristic  attempt  of  the  ambitious 
mind  of  man  !  The  Hindoo  philosopher  reconciles  to 
his  mind  the  suspension  of  the  world  in  space  by  im- 
agining it  supported  by  an  elephant,  the  elephant  by  a 
tortoise,  and  the  tortoise  by  a  serpent.  We  laugh  at 
the  Hindoo,  and  fancy  we  diminish  the  difficulty  by 
explaining  that  it  revolves  around  the  sun,  and  the 
sun  around  some  far-off  star.  Just  so  the  general  mind 
of  humanity  finds  some  satisfaction  in  supposing  a 
world  or  a  series  of  worlds  anterior  to  the  present, 
thus  escaping  the  insoluble  enigma  of  creation  by  re- 
moving it  indefinitely  in  time. 

The  support  lent  to  these  views  by  the  presence  of 
marine  shells  on  high  lands,  or  by  faint  reminiscences 
of  local  geologic  convulsions,  I  estimate  very  low. 
Savages  are  not  inductive  philosophers,  and  by  nothing 
short  of  a  miracle  could  they  preserve  the  remembrance 
of  even  the  most  terrible  catastrophe  beyond  a  few 
generations."  Nor  has  any  such  occurred  within  the 

1  Conquest  of  Mexico,  i.  p.  61. 

a  It  is  regretable  that  such  a  thoughtful  author  as  Im  Thurn 
should  content  himself  with  the  memory  of  local  floods  and  fires 
as  sufficient  explanation  of  these  cataclysmal  myths.  Indians  of 
Guiana,  p.  375. 


234       MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

ken  of  history  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  make  a  very 
permanent  or  wide-spread  impression. 

Not  physics,  but  metaphysics,  is  the  exciting  cause 
of  these  beliefs  in  periodical  convulsions  of  the  globe. 
The  idea  of  matter  cannot  be  separated  from  that  of 
time,  and  time  and  eternity  are  contradictory  terms. 
Common  words  show  this  connection.  World,  for  ex- 
ample, in  the  old  language,  waereld,  from  the  root  to 
wear,  by  derivation  means  an  age  or  cycle  (Grimm). 

In  effect  a  myth  of  creation  is  nowhere  found  among 
primitive  nations.  It  seems  repugnant  to  their  reason. 
Dry  land  and  animal  life  had  a  beginning,  but  not 
matter.  A  series  of  constructions  and  demolitions 
may  conveniently  be  supposed  for  these.  The  analogy 
of  nature,  as  seen  in  the  vernal  flowers  springing  up 
after  the  desolation  of  winter,  of  the  sapling  sprouting 
from  the  fallen  trunk,  of  life  everywhere  rising  from 
death,  suggests  such  a  view. 

Hence  arose  the  belief  in  Epochs  of  Nature,  elabo- 
rated by  ancient  philosophers  into  the  Cycles  of  the 
Stoics,  the  Great  Days  of  Brahm,  long  periods  of  time 
rounded  off  by  sweeping  destructions,  the  Cataclysms 
and  Ekpyrauses  of  the  universe.  Some  thought  in 
these  all  beings  perished ;  others  that  a  few  survived.1 

This  latter  and  more  common  view  is  the  origin  of 
the  myth  of  the  deluge.  How  familiar  such  specula- 

1  For  instance,  Epictetus  favors  the  opinion  that  at  the  solstices 
of  the  great  year  not  only  all  human  beings,  but  even  the  gods 
are  annihilated  ;  and  speculates  whether  at  such  times  Jove  feels 
lonely  (Discourses,  bk.  iii.  chap.  13).  Macrobius,  so  far  from  coin- 
ciding with  him,  explains  the  great  antiquity  of  Egyptian  civiliza- 
tion by  the  hypothesis  that  that  country  is  so  happily  situated 
between  the  pole  and  equator,  as  to  escape  both  the  deluge  and 
conflagration  of  the  great  cycle  (Somnium  Sdpionis,  lib.  ii.  cap.  10). 


ANTEDIL  UVIANS.  235 

tions  were  to  the  aborigines  of  America  there  is  abun- 
dant evidence  to  show.1 

The  early  Algonkin  legends  do  not  speak  of  an 
antediluvian  race,  nor  of  any  family  who  escaped  the 
waters.  Michabo,  the  spirit  of  the  dawn,  their  supreme 
deity,  alone  existed,  and  by  his  power  formed  and 
peopled  it.  Nor  did  their  neighbors,  the  Dakotas, 
though  firm  in  the  belief  that  the  globe  had  once  been 
destroyed  by  the  waters,  suppose  that  any  had  es- 
caped.2 The  same  view  was  entertained  by  the  Nica- 
raguans3  and  the  Botocudos  of  Brazil.  The  latter 
attributed  its  destruction  to  the  moon  falling  to  the 
earth  from  time  to  time.4  The  Aschochimi  of  Califor- 
nia told  of  the  drowning  of  the  world,  so  that  no  man 
escaped ;  but  when  the  waters  retired  the  coyote  went 
forth  and  planted  the  feathers  of  various  birds,  which 
grew  into  the  various  tribes  of  men.5 

Much  the  most  general  opinion,  however,  was  that 
some  few  escaped  the  desolating  element  by  one  of 
those  means  most  familiar  to  the  narrator,  by  ascend- 
ing some  mountain,  on  a  raft  or  canoe,  in  a  cave,  or 
even  by  climbing  a  tree.  No  doubt  some  of  these 
legends  have  been  modified  by  Christian  teachings; 
but  many  of  them  are  so  connected  with  local  peculi- 
arities and  ancient  religious  ceremonies,  that  no  un- 

1  A  general  discussion  of  the  creation  myths  of  the  world  may 
be  found  in  the  learned  work  of  Professor  Bastian,  Vorgeschichtliche 
Schopfungslieder,  Berlin,  1893  ;  and  of  the  deluge  myths  of  many 
nations  in  Dr.  R.   Andree's  Fluthsagen;  though  the  analysis  of 
their  origin  in  the  latter  appears  to  me  to  be  incomplete. 

2  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  iii.  263,  iv.  p.  230. 

3  Oviedo,  Hist,  du  Nicaragua,  pp.  22,  27. 

4  Muller,  Amer.   Urrelig.,  p.  254. 

5  Stephen  Powers,  Indians  of  California,  p.  200. 


236       MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

biased  student  can  assign  them  wholly  to  that  source, 
as  Professor  Vater  and  others  have  done,  even  if  the 
authorities  for  many  of  them  were  less  trustworthy 
than  they  are.  There  are  no  more  common  heirlooms 
in  the  traditional  lore  of  the  red  race.  Nearly  every 
old  author  quotes  one  or  more  of  them.  They  present 
great  uniformity  of  outline,  and  rather  than  engage  in 
repetitions  of  little  interest,  they  can  be  more  profitably 
studied  in  the  aggregate  than  in  detail. 

By  far  the  greater  number  represent  the  last  destruc- 
tion of  the  world  to  have  been  by  water.  A  few,  how- 
ever, the  Takahlis  of  the  North  Pacific  coast,  the 
Yurucares  of  the  Bolivian  Cordilleras,  and  the  Mbocobi 
of  Paraguay,  attribute  it  to  a  general  conflagration 
which  swept  over  the  earth,  consuming  every  living 
thing  except  a  few  who  took  refuge  in  a  deep  cave.1 
The  more  common  opinion  of  a  submersion  gave  rise 
to  those  traditions  of  a  universal  flood  so  frequently 
recorded  by  travellers,  and  supposed  by  many  to  be 
reminiscences  of  that  of  Noah. 

There  are,  indeed,  some  points  of  striking  similarity 
between  the  deluge  myths  of  Asia  and  America.  It 
has  been  called  a  peculiarity  of  the  latter  that  in  them 
the  person  saved  is  always  the  first  man.  This,  though 
not  without  exception,  is  certainly  the  general  rule. 
But  these  first  men  were  usually  the  highest  deities 
known  to  their  nations,  the  only  creators  of  the  world, 
and  the  guardians  of  the  race.2 

1  Morse,  Rep.  an  the  Ind.  Tribes,  App.  p.  346  ;  D'Orbigny,  Frag, 
d'un  Voyage  duns  VAmer.  Merid.,  p.  512. 

2  When,  as  in  the  case  of  one  of  the  Mexican  Noahs,  Coxcox, 
this  does  not  seem  to  hold  good,  it  is  probably  owing  to  a  loss  of 
the  real  form  of  the  myth.     Coxcox  is  also  known  by  the  name 
of  Cipactli,  Fish-god,  and  Huehue  tonaca  cipactli,  Old  Fish-god 
of  Our  Flesh. 


THE  ARK.  237 

Moreover,  in  an  ancient  Sanscrit  legend  of  the  flood 
in  the  Zatapatha  Brahmana,  Manu  is  also  the  first  man, 
and  by  his  own  efforts  creates  offspring.1 

A  later  Sanscrit  work  assigns  to  Manu  the  seven 
Bichis  or  shining  ones  as  companions.  Seven  was  also 
the  number  of  persons  in  the  ark  of  Noah.  Curiously 
enough  one  Mexican  and  one  early  Peruvian  myth 
give  out  exactly  seven  individuals  as  saved  in  their 
floods.2  This  coincidence  arises  from  the  mystic 
powers  attached  to  the  number  seven,  derived  from  its 
frequent  occurrence  in  astrology. 

Proof  of  this  appears  by  comparing  the  Jater  and 
the  older  versions  of  this  myth,  either  in  the  book  of 
Genesis,  where  the  latter  is  distinguished  by  the  use 
of  the  word  Elohim  for  Jehovah,3  or  the  Sanscrit  ac- 
count in  the  Zatapatha  Brahmana  with  those  in  the 
later  Puranas.  In  both  instances  the  number  seven 
hardly  or  at  all  occurs  in  the  oldest  version,  while  it  is 
constantly  repeated  in  those  of  later  dates. 

In  oriental  mythology  the  seven  planets  are  gen- 
erally supposed  to  have  conferred  this  sacredness  on 
the  heptad.  This  was  not  the  case  in  America.  Nor 
was  it  derived  as  a  rule  from  the  observation  of  celestial 
bodies.  It  was  from  terrestrial  relations  and  mythi- 
cally represented  the  objective  universe  or  the  All, 

1  The  oldest  Sanscrit  reference  to  the  flood -myth  occurs  in  the 
Atharva  Veda.     Professor  Hopkins  is  positive  that  it  is  indigenous 
to  India,  and  not  borrowed  from  Babylonian  lore  (Religions  of  In- 
dia, p.  160,  Boston,  1895). 

2  Prescott,   Conquest  of  Peru,  i.  p.  88 ;  Codex  Vaticanus,  No.  3776, 
in  Kingsborough. 

3  And  also  various  peculiarities  of  style  and  language  lost  in 
translation.     The  two  accounts  of  the  Deluge  are  given  side  by 
side  in  Dr.  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible  under  the  word  Penta- 
teuch. 


238       MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

being  derived  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth-plane, 
the  zenith,  the  nadir,  and  the  centre.  This  is  shown 
clearly  in  the  rituals  of  the  Zufiis  and  other  tribes.  As 
thus  typifying  completion,  it  became  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  the  computations  of  the  calendar  in  Mexico 
and  Central  America,  and  entered  into  numerous  other 
divinatory  and  mythical  relations,  such  as  the  seven 
ancestors  or  seven  caves  Chicomoztoc,  from  whom  the 
Aztec  claimed  descent,  the  seven  council  fires  of  the 
Dakotas,  the  seven  clans  of  the  Cakchiquels,  etc.1 

As  the  mountain  or  rather  mountain  chain  of  Ararat 
was  regarded  with  veneration  wherever  the  Semitic  ac- 
counts were  known,  so  in  America  heights  were  pointed 
out  with  becoming  reverence  as  those  on  which  the  few 
survivors  of  the  dreadful  scenes  of  the  deluge  were 
preserved.  On  the  Red  River  near  the  village  of  the 
Caddoes  was  one  of  these,  a  small  natural  eminence, 
"  to  which  all  the  Indian  tribes  for  a  great  distance 
around  pay  devout  homage,"  according  to  Dr.  Sibley.2 
The  Cerro  Naztarny  on  the  Rio  Grande,  the  peak  of 
Old  Zufii  in  New  Mexico,  that  of  Colhuacan  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  Mount  Apoala  in  Upper  Mixteca,  and 
Mount  Neba  in  the  province  of  Guaymi,  are  some  of 
many  elevations  asserted  by  the  neighboring  nations 
to  have  been  places  of  refuge  for  their  ancestors  when 
the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  broke  forth. 

One  of  the  Mexican  traditions  related  by  Torque- 
mada  identified  this  with  the  mountain  of  Tlaloc  in  the 
terrestrial  paradise,  and  added  that  one  of  the  seven 
demigods  who  escaped  commenced  the  pyramid  of 

1  Compare  S.  E.  Eiggs,  Dakota  Grammar,  p.  187  (1893) ;  Annals 
of  the  Cakchiquds,  passim  ;  Brinton,  Native  Calendar,  p.  13. 

2  American  State  Papers,  Indian  Affairs,  i.  p.  729.     Date  of  legend, 
about  1801. 


SJBDS  IN  THE  DELUGE.  239 

Cholula  in  its  memory.  He  intended  that  its  summit 
should  reach  the  clouds,  but  the  gods,  angry  at  his  pre- 
sumption, drove  away  the  builders  with  lightning.  This 
has  a  suspicious  resemblance  to  Bible  stories. 

Equally  fabulous  was  the  retreat  of  the  Araucanians. 
It  was  a  three-peaked  mountain  which  had  the  prop- 
erty of  floating  on  water,  called  Theg-Theg,  the  Thun- 
derer. This  they  believed  would  preserve  them  in  the 
next  as  it  did  in  the  last  cataclysm,  and  as  its  only  in- 
convenience was  that  it  approached  too  near  the  sun, 
they  always  kept  on  hand  wooden  bowls  to  use  as 
parasols.1 

The  intimate  connection  that  once  existed  between 
the  myths  of  the  deluge  and  those  of  the  creation  is 
illustrated  by  the  part  assigned  to  birds  in  so  many  of 
them.  They  fly  to  and  fro  over  the  waves  ere  any  land 
appears,  though  they  lose  in  great  measure  the  signifi- 
cance of  bringing  it  forth,  attached  to  them  in  the  cos- 
mogonies as  emblems  of  the  divine  spirit.  The  dove 
in  the  Hebrew  account  appears  in  that  of  the  Algonkins 
as  a  raven,  which  Michabo  sent  out  to  search  for  land 
before  the  muskrat  brought  it  to  him  from  the  bottom. 
A  raven  also  in  the  Thlinkit  and  derived  myths  saved 
their  ancestors  from  the  general  flood,  and  in  this  in- 
stance it  is  distinctly  identified  with  the  mighty  thun- 
der  bird,  who  at  the  beginning  ordered  the  earth  from 
the  depths.  Prometheus-like,  it  brought  fire  from 
heaven,  and  saved  them  from  a  second  death  by  cold.* 

i  Molina,  Hist,  of  Chili,  ii.  p.  82. 

»  See  Eichardson,  Arctic  Expedition,  p.  239  ;  A.  Krause,  Die 
Thlinkit  Indianer,  chap.  x.  ;  A.  G.  Mo  rice,  in  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Canada, 
1892,  p.  124  ;  the  writings  of  Dr.  Franz  Boas,  etc.  The  Kwakiutl 
called  this  mythic  bird,  Kaneakduh  ;  the  Carriers,  Estas  ;  the  Hai- 
dah,  NOaMoB,-  the  Tshimshians,  Caugh. 


240        MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

This  wondrous  bird  Yetl  was  the  central  character  of 
the  myths  of  all  the  coast  tribes  from  the  Eskimos  well 
into  and  beyond  Vancouver  Island ;  and  under  various 
names,  but  playing  the  same  role  in  the  mighty  drama 
of  the  creation  and  destruction  of  things,  was  familiar 
to  the  Athapascan  tribes  far  inland. 

Precisely  the  same  beneficent  actions  were  attributed 
by  the  Natchez  to  the  small  red  cardinal  bird,1  and  by 
the  Mandans  and  Cherokees  an  active  participation  in 
the  event  was  assigned  to  wild  pigeons.  The  Navajos 
and  Aztecs  thought  that  instead  of  being  drowned  by 
the  waters  the  human  race  were  tranformed  into  birds 
and  thus  escaped. 

In  all  these  and  similar  legends,  the  bird  is  a  relic  of 
the  cosmogonal  myth  which  explained  the  origin  of  the 
world  from  the  action  of  the  winds,  under  the  image 
of  the  bird,  on  the  primeval  ocean. 

The  Mexican  Codex  Vaticanus  No.  3738  represents 
after  the  picture  of  the  deluge  a  bird  perched  on  the 
summit  of  a  tree,  and  at  its  foot  men  in  the  act  of 
marching.  This  has  been  interpreted  to  mean  that 
after  the  deluge  men  were  dumb  until  a  dove  distrib- 
uted to  them  the  gift  of  speech.  The  New  Mexican 
tribes  related  that  all  except  the  leader  of  those  who 
escaped  to  the  mountains  lost  the  power  of  utterance 
by  terror,2  and  the  Quiches  that  the  antediluvian  race 
were  "  puppets,  men  of  wood,  without  intelligence  or 
language." 

These  stories,  so  closely  resembling  that  of  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues  at  the  tower  of  Babel  or  Borsippa,  are 
of  doubtful  authenticity.  The  first  is  an  erroneous 

1  Dumont,  Mems.  Hist,  sur  la  Louisiane,  i.  p.  163. 
3  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  v.  p.  686. 


STORIES  OF  GIANTS.  241 

interpretation,  as  has  been  shown  by  Senor  Ramirez, 
director  of  the  Museum  of  Antiquities  at  Mexico.  The 
name  of  the  bird  in  the  Aztec  tongue  was  identical 
with  the  word  departure,  and  this  is  its  signification  in 
the  painting.1 

Stories  of  giants  in  the  days  of  old,  figures  of  mighty 
proportions  looming  up  through  the  mist  of  ages,  are 
common  property  to  every  nation.  The  Mexicans  and 
Peruvians  had  them  as  well  as  others,  but  their  con- 
nection with  the  legends  of  the  flood  and  the  creation 
is  incidental  and  secondary.  Were  the  case  otherwise, 
it  would  offer  no  additional  point  of  similarity  to  the 
Hebrew  myth,  for  the  word  rendered  giants  in  the 
phrase,  "  and  there  were  giants  in  those  days,"  has  no 
such  meaning  in  the  original.  It  is  a  blunder  which 
crept  into  the  Septuagint,  and  has  been  cherished  ever 
since,  along  with  so  many  others  in  the  received  text. 

A  few  specimens  will  serve  as  examples  of  all  these 
American  flood  myths.  The  Abb6  Brasseur  has  trans- 
lated one  from  the  Codex  Chimalpopoca,  a  work  in  the 
Nahuatl  language  of  Ancient  Mexico,  written  about 
half  a  century  after  the  conquest.  It  is  as  follows  : 

"  And  this  year  was  that  of  Ce-calli,  and  on  the  first 
day  all  was  lost.  The  mountain  itself  was  submerged 
in  the  water,  and  the  water  remained  tranquil  for  fifty- 
two  springs. 

"  Now  towards  the  close  of  the  year,  Titlacahuan  had 
forewarned  the  man  named  Nata  and  his  wife  named 
Nena,  saying,  '  Make  no  more  pulque,  but  straightway 
hollow  out  a  large  cypress,  and  enter  it  when  in  the 
month  Tozoztli  the  water  shall  approach  the  sky.' 
They  entered  it,  and  when  Titlacahuan  had  closed  the 


Desjardins,  Le  Perou  avant  la  Conq.  Espagn.,  p.  27. 
16 


242        MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY, 

door  he  said,  '  Thou  shall  eat  but  a  single  ear  of  maize, 
and  thy  wife  but  one  also.' 

"  As  soon  as  they  had  finished  [eating],  they  went 
forth  and  the  water  was  tranquil ;  for  the  log  did  not 
move  any  more ;  and  opening  it  they  saw  many  fish. 

"  Then  they  built  a  fire,  rubbing  together  pieces  of 
wood,  and  they  roasted  the  fish.  The  gods  Citlallinicue 
and  Citlallatonac  looking  below  exclaimed.  '  Divine 
Lord,  what  means  that  fire  below  ?  Why  do  they  thus 
smoke  the  heavens  ?' 

"Straightway  descended  Titlacahuan  Tezcatlipoca, 
and  commenced  to  scold,  saying, '  What  is  this  fire  do- 
ing here?'  And  seizing  the  fishes  he  moulded  their 
hinder  parts  and  changed  their  heads,  and  they  were 
at  once  transformed  into  dogs."1 

That  found  in  the  oft  quoted  legends  of  the  Quiche's 
is  to  this  effect : — 

"  Then  by  the  will  of  the  Heart  of  Heaven  the  waters 
were  swollen  and  a  great  flood  came  upon  the  manikins 
of  wood.  For  they  did  not  think  nor  speak  of  the  Cre- 
ator who  had  created  them,  and  who  had  caused  their 
birth.  They  were  drowned,  and  a  thick  resin  fell  from 
heaven. 

"  The  bird  Xecotcovach  tore  out  their  eyes ;  the  bird 
Camulatz  cut  off  their  heads ;  the  bird  Cotzbalam  de- 
voured their  flesh ;  the  bird  Tecumbalam  broke  their 
bones  and  sinews  and  ground  them  into  powder."2 

"  Because  they  had  not  thought  of  their  Mother  and 

1  Cod.  Chimalpopoca,  in  Brasseur,  Hist',  du  Mexique,  Pieces  Jus- 
tificatives. 

2  These  four  birds,  whose  names  have  lost  their  signification, 
represent  doubtless  the  four  winds,  or  the  four  rivers,  which,  as  in 
so  many  legends,  are  the  active  agents  in  overwhelming  the  world 
in  its  great  crises. 


THE  QUICHE  DELUGE.  243 

Father,  the  Heart  of  Heaven,  whose  name  is  Hurakan, 
therefore  the  face  of  the  earth  grew  dark  and  a  pouring 
rain  commenced,  raining  by  day,  raining  by  night. 

"  Then  all  sorts  of  beings,  little  and  great,  gathered 
together  to  abuse  the  men  to  their  faces ;  and  all  spoke, 
their  mill-stones,  their  plates,  their  cups,  their  dogs, 
their  hens. 

"Said  the  dogs  and  hens,  'Very  badly  have  you 
treated  us,  and  you  have  bitten  us.  Now  we  bite  you 
in  turn.' 

"  Said  the  mill-stones,'  Very  much  were  we  tormented 
by  you,  and  daily,  daily,  night  and  day,  it  was  squeak, 
squeak,  screech,  screech,  for  your  sake.  Now  yourselves 
shall  feel  our  strength,  and  we  will  grind  your  flesh, 
and  make  meal  of  your  bodies,'  said  the  mill-stones.1 

"And  this  is  what  the  dogs  said,  '  Why  did  you  not 
give  us  our  food  ?  No  sooner  did  we  come  near  than 
you  drove  us  away,  and  the  stick  was  always  within 
reach  when  you  were  eating,  because,  forsooth,  we  were 
not  able  to  talk.  Now  we  will  use  our  teeth  and  eat 
you,'  said  the  dogs,  tearing  their  faces. 

"And  the  cups  and  dishes  said,  '  Pain  and  misery 
you  gave  us,  smoking  our  tops  and  sides,  cooking  us 
over  the  fire,  burning  and  hurting  us  as  if  we  had  no 
feeling.2  Now  it  is  your  turn,  and  you  shall  burn,'  said 
the  cups  insultingly. 

1  The  word  rendered  mill-stones,  in  the  original  means  those 
large  hollowed  stones  called  metates  on  which  the  women  were  ac- 
customed to  bruise  the  maize.     The  imitative  sounds  for  which  I 
have  substituted  others  in  English,  are  in  Quiche",  holi,  holi,  huqui, 
huqui. 

2  Brasseur  translates  "  quoique  nous  ne  sentissions  rien,' '  but 
Ximenes,  "nos  quemasteis,  y  sentimos  el  dolor."     As  far  as  I  can 
make  out  the  original,  it  is  the  negative  conditional  as  I  have 
given  it  in  the  text. 


244        MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

"  Then  ran  the  men  hither  and  thither  in  despair. 
They  climbed  to  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  but  the  houses 
crumbled  under  their  feet ;  they  tried  to  mount  to  the 
tops  of  the  trees,  but  the  trees  hurled  them  far  from 
them;  they  sought  refuge  in  the  caverns,  but  the 
caverns  shut  before  them. 

"  Thus  was  accomplished  the  ruin  of  this  race,  des- 
tined to  be  destroyed  and  overthrown  ;  thus  were  they 
given  over  to  destruction  and  contempt.  And  it  is  said 
that  their  posterity  are  those  little  monkeys  who  live 
in  the  woods."1 

The  Algonkin  tradition  has  often  been  referred  to. 
Many  versions  of  it  are  extant,  the  oldest  and  most 
authentic  of  which  is  that  translated  from  the  Montag- 
nais  dialect  by  Father  le  Jeune,  in  1634. 

l<  One  day  as  Messou  was  hunting,  the  wolves  which 
he  used  as  dogs  entered  a  great  lake  and  were  detained 
there. 

"  Messou,  looking  for  them  everywhere,  a  bird  said  to 
him,  '  I  see  them  in  the  middle  of  this  lake.' 

"He  entered  the  lake  to  rescue  them,  but  the  lake, 
overflowing  its  banks,  covered  the  land  and  destroyed 
the  world. 

"  Messou,  very  much  astonished  at  this,  sent  out  the 
raven  to  find  a  piece  of  earth  wherewith  to  rebuild  the 
land,  but  the  bird  could  find  none ;  then  he  ordered 
the  otter  to  dive  for  some,  but  the  animal  returned 
empty ;  at  last  he  sent  down  the  muskrat,  who  came 
back  with  ever  so  small  a  piece,  which,  however,  was 
enough  for  Messou  to  form  the  land  on  which  we  are. 

"The  trees  having  lost  their  branches,  he  shot 
arrows  at  their  naked  trunks,  which  became  their 

1  Le  Livre  Sacre,  p.  27  ;  Ximenes,  Or.  de  los  Indies,  p.  13. 


THE  TUP  I  DELUGE.  245 

limbs,  revenged  himself  on  those  who  had  detained  his 
wolves,  and  having  married  the  muskrat,  by  it  peopled 
the  world." 

Next  may  be  given  the  meagre  legend  of  the  Tupis 
of  Brazil,  as  heard  by  Hans  Staden,  a  prisoner  among 
them  about  1550,  and  Coreal,  a  later  voyager.  Their 
ancient  songs  relate  that  a  long  time  ago,  a  certain 
very  powerful  Mair,  that  is  to  say  a  stranger,  who 
bitterly  hated  their  ancestors,  compassed  their  de- 
struction by  a  violent  inundation.  Only  a  very  few 
succeeded  in  escaping— some  by  climbing  trees,  others 
in  caves.  When  the  waters  subsided  the  remnant 
came  together,  and  by  gradual  increase  populated  the 
world.1 

Or,  it  is  narrated  by  an  equally  ancient  authority  as 
follows  :— 

"  Monan  (the  Maker,  the  Begetter),  without  beginning 
or  end,  author  of  all  that  is,  seeing  the  ingratitude  of 
men,  and  their  contempt  for  him  who  had  made  them 
thus  joyous,  withdrew  from  them,  and  sent  upon  them 
tata,  the  divine  fire,  which  burned  all  that  was  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth.  He  swept  about  the  fire  in  such 
a  way  that  in  places  he  raised  mountains,  and  in  others 

1  The  American  nations  among  whom  a  distinct  and  well- 
authenticated  myth  of  the  deluge  was  found  are  the  Athapascas, 
Algonkins,  Iroquois,  Cherokees,  Chikasaws,  Caddos,  Caraxas, 
Guaymis,  Pumarys,  Pawnees,  Natchez,  Dakotas,  Apaches,  Nava- 
jos,  Mandans,  Pueblo  Indians,  Aztecs,  Mixtecs,  Zapotecs,  Tlas- 
calans,  Mechoacans,  Toltecs,  Nahuas,  Mayas,  Quiches,  Haitians, 
natives  of  Darien  and  Popoyan,  Muyscas,  Quichuas,  Tupinambas, 
Achaguas,  Araucanians,  and  many  others.  The  article  by  M.  de 
Charency  in  the  Revue  Americaine,  "  Le  Deluge  d'apres  les  Traditions 
Indiennes  de  V  Amerique  du  Nord,"  contains  some  valuable  extracts, 
but  offers  for  their  existence  no  rational  explanation.  Andree's 
Fluthsayen  quotes  a  number. 


246        MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

dug  valleys.  Of  all  men  one  alone,  Irin  Mage  (the  one 
who  sees),  was  saved,  whom  Monan  carried  into  the 
heaven.  He,  seeing  all  things  destroyed,  spoke  thus  to 
Monan  :  '  Wilt  thou  also  destroy  the  heavens  and  their 
garniture  ?  Alas  !  henceforth  where  will  be  our  home  ? 
Why  should  I  live,  since  there  is  none  other  of  my 
kind  ?'  Then  Monan  was  so  filled  with  pity  that  he 
poured  a  deluging  rain  on  the  earth,  which  quenched 
the  fire,  and,  flowing  from  all  sides,  formed  the  ocean, 
which  we  callparcma,  the  great  waters."1 

A  reflection  of  this  myth  appears  in  that  of  the 
Mbocobis  of  Paraguay.  The  destruction  of  the  world 
was  due  to  the  sun.  This  orb  once  fell  from  the  sky, 
but  a  Mbocobi  hastened  to  pick  it  up  before  it  did  any 
injury,  and  fastened  it  in  its  place  with  pegs.  A  second 
time  it  fell  and  burnt  up  the  earth.  Two  of  the  tribe, 
a  man  and  his  wife,  climbed  a  tree  and  escaped  destruc- 
tion, but  a  flash  of  flame  reached  them  and  they  fell  to 
the  ground,  where  they  were  changed  into  monkeys.2 

The  Guaymis  of  Costa  Rica,  a  tribe  with  South 
American  affinities,  told  the  story  thus  : 

"  Angered  with  the  world,  the  mighty  Noncomala 
poured  over  it  a  flood  of  water,  killing  every  man  and 
woman ;  but  the  kindly  god  Nubu  had  preserved  the 
seed  of  a  man,  and  when  the  waters  had  dried  up  he 
sowed  it  on  the  moist  earth.  From  the  best  of  it  rose 
the  race  of  men,  and  from  that  which  was  imperfect 
came  the  monkeys."8 

1  The  original  authority  for  this  is  Thevet.  In  other  myths 
collected  by  Simon  de  Vasconcellos,  Tamandare  is  the  Brazilian 
Noah.  Barbosa  Eodriguez  gives  that  of  the  Pamerys,  Poranduba 
Amazonense,  p.  213. 

a  Guevara,  Hist,  dd  Paraguay,  cap.  xv. 

8  Pedro  Melendez,  Tesoros  Verdaderos  de  las  Tndias,  I.  p.  4. 


THE  HINDOO  DELUGE.  247 

In  most  of  the  true  South  American  myths  the  pecu- 
liar machinery  is  that  the  god  pours  the  water  from  a 
calabash  or  jar,  while  in  North  America  he  causes  a 
lake  or  sea  to  overflow.1 

In  these  narratives  I  have  not  attempted  to  soften 
the  asperities  nor  conceal  the  childishness  which  runs 
through  them.  But  there  is  no  occasion  to  be  aston- 
ished at  these  peculiarities,  nor  to  found  upon  them 
any  disadvantageous  opinion  of  the  mental  powers  of 
their  authors  and  believers.  We  can  go  back  to  the 
cradle  of  our  own  race  in  Central  Asia,  and  find  tradi- 
tions every  whit  as  infantile.  I  cannot  refrain  from 
adding  the  earliest  Aryan  myth,  of  the  same  great 
occurrence,  as  it  is  handed  down  to  us  in  ancient  San- 
scrit literature.  It  will  be  seen  that  it  is  little,  if  at  all, 
superior  to  those  just  rehearsed. 

"  Early  in  the  morning  they  brought  to  Manu  water 
to  wash  himself ;  when  he  had  well  washed,  a  fish  came 
into  his  hands. 

"  It  said  to  him  these  words  :  '  Take  care  of  me  ;  I 
will  save  thee.'  '  What  wilt  thou  save  me  from  ?'  '  A 
deluge  will  sweep  away  all  creatures ;  I  wish  thee  to 
escape.'  '  But  how  shall  I  take  care  of  thee  ?' 

"  The  fish  said :  '  While  we  are  small  there  is  more 
than  one  danger  of  death,  for  one  fish  swallows  another. 
Thou  must,  in  the  first  place,  put  me  in  a  vase.  Then, 
when  I  shall  exceed  it  in  size,  thou  must  dig  a  deep 
ditch,  and  place  me  in  it.  When  I  grow  too  large  for 
it,  throw  me  in  the  sea,  for  I  shall  then  be  beyond  the 
danger  of  death.' 

"  Soon  it  became  a  great  fish ;  it  grew,  in  fact,  aston- 
ishingly. Then  it  said  to  Manu,  '  In  such  a  year  the 

1  Cf.  Paul  Ehrenreich,  Die  Karayastamme,  p.  41. 


248        MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

Deluge  will  come.  Thou  must  build  a  vessel,  and  then 
pay  me  homage.  When  the  waters  of  the  Deluge  mount 
up,  enter  the  vessel.  I  will  save  thee.' 

"  When  Manu  had  thus  taken  care  of  the  fish,  he  put 
it  in  the  sea.  The  same  year  that  the  fish  had  said,  in 
that  very  year,  having  built  the  vessel,  he  paid  the  fish 
homage.  Then  the  Deluge  mounting,  he  entered  the 
vessel.  The  fish  swam  near  him.  To  its  horn  Manu 
fastened  the  ship's  rope,  with  which  the  fish  passed  the 
Mountain  of  the  North. 

"  The  fish  said, '  See !  I  have  saved  thee.  Fasten  the 
vessel  to  a  tree,  so  that  the  water  does  not  float  thee 
onward  when  thou  art  on  the  mountain  top.  As  the 
water  decreases,  thou  wilt  descend  little  by  little.'  Thus 
Manu  descended  gradually.  Therefore  to  the  mountain 
of  the  north  remains  the  name,  Descent  of  Manu.  The 
Deluge  had  destroyed  all  creatures;  Manu  survived 
alone."1 

Hitherto  I  have  spoken  only  of  the  last  convulsion 
which  swept  over  the  face  of  the  globe,  and  of  but  one 
cycle  which  preceded  the  present.  Most  of  the  more 
savage  tribes  contented  themselves  with  this,  but  it  is 
instructive  to  observe  how,  as  they  advanced  in  culture, 
and  the  mind  dwelt  more  intently  on  the  great  prob- 
lems of  Life  and  Time,  they  were  impelled  to  remove 
further  and  further  the  dim  and  mysterious  Beginning. 

The  Peruvians  imagined  that  two  destructions  had 
taken  place,  the  first  by  a  famine,  the  second  by  a 
flood — according  to  some  a  few  only  escaping — but, 

1  Felix  Neve,  La  Tradition  Indienne  du  Deluge  ;  also  Hopkins,  The 
Religions  of  India,  p.  214.  The  original  is  in  the  £atapatha  Brahmana. 
There  is  in  the  oldest  versions  no  distinct  reference  to  an  antedilu- 
vian race,  and  in  India  Manu  is  by  common  consent  the  Adam  as 
well  as  the  Noah  of  their  legends. 


AGES  OF  THE  WORLD.  249 

after  the  more  widely  accepted  opinion,  accompanied 
by  the  absolute  extirpation  of  the  race.  Three  eggs, 
which  dropped  from  heaven,  hatched  out  the  present 
race ;  one  of  gold,  from  which  came  the  priests ;  one 
of  silver,  which  produced  the  warriors ;  and  the  last  of 
copper,  source  of  the  common  people.1 

The  Mayas  of  Yucatan  increased  the  previous  worlds 
by  one,  making  the  present  the  fourth.  Two  cycles  had 
terminated  by  devastating  plagues.  They  were  called 
"  the  sudden  deaths,"  for  it  was  said  so  swift  and  mor- 
tal was  the  pest,  that  the  buzzards  and  other  foul  birds 
dwelt  in  the  houses  of  the  cities,  and  ate  the  bodies  of 
their  former  owners.  The  third  closed  either  by  a  hur- 
ricane, which  blew  from  all  four  of  the  cardinal  points 
at  once,  or  else,  as  others  said,  by  an  inundation,  which 
swept  across  the  world,  swallowing  all  things  in  its 
mountainous  surges.* 

As  might  be  expected,  the  vigorous  intellects  of  the 

1  Avendano,  Sermones  (Lima,    1648),  in  Kivero  and  Tschudi, 
Peruv.  Anliqs.,  p.  114.     In  the  year  1600,  Onate  found  on  the  coast 
of  California  a  tribe  whose  idol  held  in  one  hand  a  shell  contain- 
ing three  eggs,  in  the  other  an  ear  of  maize,  while  before  it  was 
placed  a  cup  of  water.     Vizcaino,  who  visited  the  same  people  a 
few  years  afterwards,  mentions  that  they  kept  in  their  temples 
tame  ravens,  and  looked  upon  them  as  sacred  birds  (Torquemada, 
Mon.  Ind.,  lib.  v.  cap.  40).    Thus,  in  all  parts  of  the  continent  do 
we  find  the  bird,  as  a  symbol  of  the  clouds,  associated  with  the 
rains  and  the  harvests. 

2  The  deluge  was  called  hun  yecil,  which,  according  to  Cogolludo, 
means  the  inundation  of  the  trees,  for  all  the  forests  were  swept  away 
(Hist,  de  Yucathan,  lib.  iv.  cap.  5).     Bishop  Landa  adds,  to  sub- 
stantiate the  legend,  that  all  the  woods  of  the  peninsula  appear  as 
if  they  had  been  planted  at  one  time,  and  that  to  look  at  them  one 
would  say  they  had  been  trimmed  with  scissors  (Rel.  de  las  Cosas  de 
Yucatan,  58,  60). 


250        MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

Aztecs  impressed  upon  this  myth  a  fixity  of  outline 
nowhere  else  met  with  on  the  continent,  and  wove  it 
intimately  into  their  astrological  reveries  and  religious 
theories.  Unaware  of  its  prevalence  under  more  rudi- 
mentary forms  throughout  the  continent,  Alexander 
von  Humboldt  observed  that,  "  of  all  the  traits  of 
analogy  which  can  be  pointed  out  between  the  monu- 
ments, manners,  and  traditions  of  Asia  and  America, 
the  most  striking  is  that  offered  by  the  Mexican  my- 
thology in  the  cosmogonical  fiction  of  the  periodical 
destructions  and  regenerations  of  the  universe."1  Yet 
it  is  but  the  same  fiction  that  existed  elsewhere,  some- 
what more  definitely  outlined. 

There  exists  great  discrepancy  between  the  different 
authorities,  both  as  to  the  number  of  Aztec  ages  or 
Suns,  as  they  were  called,  their  durations,  their  termi- 
nations, and  their  names.  The  preponderance  of  tes- 
timony is  in  favor  of  four  antecedent  cycles,  the  present 
being  the  fifth.  The  interval  from  the  first  creation  to 
the  commencement  of  the  present  epoch,  owing  to  the 
equivocal  meaning  of  the  numeral  signs  expressing  it 
in  the  picture  writings,  may  have  been  either  15,228, 
2316,  or  1404  solar  years.  Why  these  numbers  should 
have  been  chosen,  no  one  has  guessed.  It  has  been 
looked  for  in  combinations  of  numbers  connected  with 
the  calendar,  but  so  far  in  vain.2 

While  most  authorities  agree  as  to  the  character  of 
the  destructions  which  terminated  the  suns,  they  vary 
much  as  to  their  sequence.  Water,  winds,  fire,  and 
hunger,  are  the  agencies,  and  in  one  Codex  (Vaticanus) 

1  Vues  des  Cordmres,  p.  202. 

2  The  most  careful  modern  study  of  the  Aztec  Ages  or  Suns  is 
that  by  Dr.  Ed.  Seler  (Berlin,  1895). 


THE  MEXICAN  "SUNS."  251 

occur  in  this  order.  Gama  gives  the  sequence,  hunger, 
winds,  fire,  and  water ;  Humboldt,  hunger,  fire,  winds, 
and  water;  Boturini,  water,  hunger,  winds,  fire.  As 
the  cycle  ending  by  a  famine  is  called  the  Age  of  Earth, 
Ternaux-Compans,  the  distinguished  French  Am'eri- 
caniste,  has  imagined  that  the  four  Suns  correspond 
mystically  to  the  domination  exercised  in  turn  over 
the  world  by  its  four  constituent  elements.  But  proof 
is  wanting  that  Aztec  philosophers  knew  the  theory  on 
which  this  explanation  reposes. 

Baron  Humboldt  suggested  that  the  suns  were  "  fic- 
tions of  mythological  astronomy,  modified  either  by 
obscure  reminiscences  of  some  great  revolution  suf- 
fered by  our  planet,  or  by  physical  hypotheses,  sug- 
gested by  the  sight  of  marine  petrifactions  and  fossil 
remains,"1  while  the  Abbe  Brasseur,  in  his  works  on 
ancient  Mexico,  interprets  them  as  exaggerated  refer- 
ences to  historical  events. 

As  no  solution  can  be  accepted  not  equally  applicable 
to  the  same  myth  as  it  appears  in  Yucatan,  Peru,  and 
the  hunting  tribes,  and  to  the  exactly  parallel  teach- 
ings of  the  Edda,2  the  Stoics,  the  Celts,  and  the  Brah- 
mans,  both  of  these  must  be  rejected.  And  although 
the  Hindoo  legend  is  so  close  to  the  Aztec,  that  it,  too, 
defines  four  ages,  each  terminating  by  a  general  catas- 

1  Vues  des  Cordilferes,  ii.  p.  118,  sq. 

2  The  Scandinavians  believed  the  universe  had  been  destroyed 
nine  times  : — 

Ni  Verdener  yeg  husker, 
Og  ni  Himle, 

says  the  Voluspa  (i.  2,  in  Klee,  Le  Deluge,  p.  220).  I  observe  some 
English  writers  have  supposed  from  these  lines  that  the  Northmen 
believed  in  the  existence  of  nine  abodes  for  the  blessed.  Such  is 
not  the  sense  of  the  original. 


252        MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

trophe,  and  each  catastrophe  exactly  the  same  in  both,1 
yet  this  is  not  at  all  indicative  of  a  derivation  from  one 
original,  but  simply  an  illustration  how  the  human 
mind,  under  the  stimulus  of  the  same  intellectual  crav- 
ings, produces  like  results.  What  these  cravings  are 
has  already  been  shown. 

The  reason  for  adopting  four  ages,  thus  making  the 
present  the  fifth,  probably  arose  from  the  sacredness 
of  that  number  in  general,  as  connected  with  the  four 
cardinal  points,  the  four  quarters  of  the  world  or  space, 
and  hence  an  assumed  fourfold  period  of  time  or  dura- 
tion; but  directly,  because  this  was  the  number  of 
secular  days  in  the  Mexican  week.  A  parallel  is  offered 
by  the  Hebrew  narrative.  In  it  six  epochs  or  days 
precede  the  seventh  or  present  cycle,  in  which  the 
creative  power  rests.  This  latter  corresponded  to  the 
Jewish  Sabbath,  the  day  of  repose ;  and  in  the  Mexican 
calendar  each  fifth  day  was  also  a  day  of  repose,  em- 
ployed in  marketing  and  pleasure. 

Doubtless  the  theory  of  the  Ages  of  the  world  was 
long  in  vogue  among  the  Aztecs  before  it  received  the 
definite  form  in  which  we  now  have  it ;  and  as  this 
was  acquired  long  after  the  calendar  was  fixed,  it  is 
every  way  probable  that  the  latter  was  used  as  a  guide 
to  the  former.  Echevarria,  a  good  authority  on  such 
matters,  says  the  number  of  the  Suns  was  agreed  upon 
at  a  congress  of  astrologists,  within  the  memory  of 
tradition.2 

Now  in  the  calendar,  these  signs  occur  in  the  order, 

1  At  least  this  is  the  doctrine  of  one  of  the  Shastas.     The  race, 
it  teaches,  has  been  destroyed  four  times  ;  first  by  water,  secondly 
by  winds,  thirdly  the  earth  swallowed  them,  and  lastly  fire  con- 
sumed them  (Sepp,  Heidenthum  und  Christenthum,  i.  p.  191). 

2  Echevarria  y  Veitia,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espana,  lib.  i.  cap.  4 


THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD.  253 

earth,  air,  water,  fire,  corresponding  to  the  days  distin- 
guished by  the  symbols  house,  rabbit,  reed,  and  flint. 
This  sequence,  commencing  with  Tochtli  (rabbit,  air), 
is  that  given  as  that  of  the  Suns  in  the  Codex  Chimal- 
popoca,  translated  by  Brasseur,  though  it  seems  a  taint 
of  European  teaching,  when  it  is  added  that  on  the 
seventh  day  of  the  creation  man  was  formed.1 

Neither  Jews  nor  Aztecs,  nor  indeed  any  American 
nation,  appear  to  have  supposed,  with  some  of  the  old 
philosophers,  that  the  present  was  an  exact  repetition 
of  previous  cycles,2  but  rather  that  each  was  an  im- 
provement on  the  preceding,  a  step  in  endless  progress. 
Nor  did  either  connect  these  beliefs  with  astronomical 
reveries  of  a  great  year,  defined  by  the  return  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  to  one  relative  position  in  the  heavens. 
The  latter  seems  characteristic  of  the  realism  of  Europe, 
the  former  of  the  idealism  of  the  Orient ;  both  incon- 
sistent with  the  meagre  astronomy  and  more  scanty 
metaphysics  of  the  red  race. 

The  expectation  of  the  end  of  the  world  is  a  natural 
complement  to  the  belief  in  periodical  destructions  of 
our  globe.  As  at  certain  times  past  the  equipoise 
of  nature  was  lost,  and  the  elements  breaking  the  chain 
of  laws  that  bound  them  ran  riot  over  the  universe, 
involving  all  life  in  one  mad  havoc  and  desolation,  BO 
in  the  future  we  have  to  expect  that  day  of  doom, 
when  the  ocean  tides  shall  obey  no  shore,  but  over- 
whelm the  continents  with  their  mountainous  billows, 

1  Brasseur,  Hist,  du  Mexique,  iii.  p.  495. 

«  The  contrary  has  indeed  been  inferred  from  such  expressions 
of  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes  as,  "that  which  hath 
been,  is  now,  and  that  which  is  to  be,  hath  already  been"  (chap, 
iii.  15),  and  the  like,  but  they  are  susceptible  of  an  application 
entirely  subjective. 


254        MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

or  the  fire,  now  chafing  in  volcanic  craters  and  smoking 
springs,  will  leap  forth  on  the  forests  and  grassy 
meadows,  wrapping  all  things  in  a  winding  sheet  of 
flame,  and  melting  the  very  elements  with  fervid  heat. 
Then,  in  the  language  of  the  Norse  prophetess, 
"  shall  the  sun  grow  dark,  the  land  sink  in  the  waters, 
the  bright  stars  be  quenched,  and  high  flames  climb 
heaven  itself."1  These  fearful  forebodings  have  cast 
their  dark  shadow  on  every  literature.  The  seeress  of 
the  north  does  but  paint  in  wilder  colors  the  terrible 
pictures  of  Seneca,2  and  the  sibyl  of  the  capitol  only 
re-echoes  the  inspired  predictions  of  Malachi.  Well 
has  the  Christian  poet  said : — 

Dies  irse,  dies  ilia, 
Solvet  sseclum  in  favilla, 
Teste  David  cum  Sibyla. 

Savage  races,  isolated  in  the  impenetrable  forests  of 
another  continent,  could  not  escape  this  fearful  looking 
for  of  destruction  to  come.  It  oppressed  their  souls 
like  a  weight  of  lead.  On  the  last  night  of  each  cycle 
of  fifty-two  years,  the  Aztecs  extinguished  every  fire, 
and  proceeded,  in  solemn  procession,  to  some  sacred 
spot.  Then  the  priests,  with  awe  and  trembling,  sought 
to  kindle  a  new  fire  by  friction.  Momentous  was  the 
endeavor,  for  did  it  fail,  their  fathers  had  taught  them 
on  the  morrow  no  sun  would  rise,  and  darkness,  death, 
and  the  waters  would  descend  forever  on  this  beautiful 
world. 

The  same  terror  inspired  the  Peruvians  at  every 
eclipse,  for  some  day,  taught  the  Amautas,  the  shadow 

1  Voluspa,  xiv.  51,  in  Klee,  Le  Deluge. 
8  Natur.  QuoBStiones,  iii.  cap.  27. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD.  255 

will  veil  the  sun  forever,  and  land,  moon,  and  stars  will 
be  wrapt  in  a  devouring  conflagration  to  know  no 
regeneration ;  or  a  drought  will  wither  every  herb  of 
the  field,  suck  up  the  waters,  and  leave  the  race  to 
perish  to  the  last  creature ;  or  the  moon  will  fall  from 
her  place  in  the  heavens  and  involve  all  things  in  her 
own  ruin,  a  figure  of  speech  meaning  that  the  waters 
would  submerge  the  land.1 

In  that  dreadful  day,  thought  the  Algonkins,  when 
in  anger  Michabo  will  send  a  mortal  pestilence  to 
destroy  the  nations,  or,  stamping  his  foot  on  the  ground, 
flames  will  burst  forth  to  consume  the  habitable  land, 
only  a  pair,  or  only,  at  most,  those  who  have  maintained 
inviolate  the  institutions  he  ordained,  will  he  protect 
and  preserve  to  inhabit  the  new  world  he  will  then 
fabricate.  Therefore  they  do  not  speak  of  this  catas- 
trophe as  the  end  of  the  world,  but  use  one  of  those 
nice  grammatical  distinctions  so  frequent  in  American 
aboriginal  languages,  and  which  can  only  be  imitated, 
not  interpreted,  in  ours,  signifying  "  when  it  will  be 
near  its  end,"  "  when  it  will  no  longer  be  available  for 
man."2 

An  ancient  prophecy  handed  down  from  their  ances- 
tors warns  the  Winnebagoes  that  their  nation  shall  be 
annihilated  at  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  generation. 
Ten  have  already  passed,  and  that  now  living  has 
appointed  ceremonies  to  propitiate  the  powers  of  heaven, 
and  mitigate  its  stern  decree.3  Well  may  they  be  about 
it,  for  there  is  a  gloomy  probability  that  the  warning 
came  from  no  false  prophet. 

1  Velasco,  Hist,  du  Royaume  du  Quito,  p.  105  ;  Navarrete,  Viages, 
Hi.  p.  444. 

2  Bd.de  la  Nauv.  France,  An.  1637,  p.  54  ;  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes, 
1.  p.  319,  iv.  p.  420.  »  Schoolcraft,  ibid.,  iv.  p.  240. 


256        MYTHS  OF  CREATION,  DELUGE  AND  LAST  DAY. 

Few  tribes  were  destitute  of  such  presentiments. 
The  Chikasaw,  the  Mandans  of  the  Missouri,  the  Pueblo 
Indians  of  New  Mexico,  the  Muyscas  of  Bogota,  the 
Botocudos  of  Brazil,  the  Araucanians  of  Chili,  have 
been  asserted  on  testimony  that  leaves  no  room  for 
scepticism,  to  have  entertained  such  forebodings  from 
immemorial  time. 

Enough  for  the  purpose  if  the  list  is  closed  with  the 
prediction  of  a  Maya  priest,  cherished  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Yucatan  long  before  the  Spaniard  desolated 
their  stately  cities.  It  is  one  of  those  preserved  by 
Father  Lizana,  cure  of  Itzamal,  and  of  which  he  gives 
the  original.  Other  witnesses  inform  us  that  this  na- 
tion "  had  a  tradition  that  the  world  would  end,"1  and 
probably,  like  the  Greeks  and  Aztecs,  they  supposed 
the  gods  would  perish  with  it. 

"  At  the  close  of  the  ages,  it  hath  been  decreed, 
Shall  perish  and  vanish  each  weak  god  of  men, 
And  the  world  shall  be  purged  with  a  ravening  fire. 
Happy  the  man  in  that  terrible  day, 
Who  bewails  with  contrition  the  sins  of  his  life, 
And  meets  without  flinching  the  fiery  ordeal."1 

1  Cogolludo,  Hist,  de  Yucathan,  lib.  iv.  cap.  7. 
1  The  Spanish  of  Lizana  is — 

"En  la  ultima  edad,  segun  esta  determinado, 

Avra  fin  el  culto  de  dioses  vanos  ; 

Y  el  mundo  sera  purificado  con  fuego. 

El  que  esto  viere  sara  llamado  dichoso 

Si  con  dolor  Uorartj  sus  pecados." 

(Hist,  de  Nuestra  Sefiora  de  Itzamal,  in  Brasseur,  Hist,  du  Merique, 
p.  603.) 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN.  257 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   ORIGIN   OF  MAN. 

Usually  man  is  the  EARTH-BORN,  both  in  language  and  myths. — 
The  Earth-Mother.— Illustrations  from  the  legends  of  the  Caribs, 
Apalachians,  Iroquois,  Quichuas,  Aztecs,  and  others. — The 
underworld. — Man  the  product  of  one  of  the  primal  creative 
powers,  the  Spirit  or  the  Water,  in  the  myths  of  the  Athapas- 
cas,  Eskimos,  Moxos,  and  others.  Not  literally  derived  from 
an  inferior  species. 

"YTOman  can  escape  the  importunate  question,  Whence 
-^  am  I  ?  The  first  replies  framed  to  meet  it  possess 
an  interest  to  the  thoughtful  mind,  beyond  that  of 
mere  fables :  They  illustrate  the  position  in  creation 
claimed  by  our  race,  and  the  early  workings  of  self- 
consciousness.  Often  the  oldest  terms  for  man  are 
synopses  of  these  replies,  and  merit  a  more  than  pass- 
ing contemplation. 

The  seed  is  hidden  in  the  earth.  Warmed  by  the 
sun,  watered  by  the  rain,  presently  it  bursts  its  dark 
prison-house,  unfolds  its  delicate  leaves,  blossoms,  and 
matures  its  fruit.  Its  work  done,  the  earth  draws  it  to 
itself  again,  resolves  the  various  structures  into  their 
original  mould,  and  the  unending  round  recommences. 

This  is  the  marvellous  process  that  struck  the  primi- 
tive mind.  Out  of  the  Earth  rises  life,  to  it  it  returns. 
She  it  is  who  guards  all  germs,  nourishes  all  beings. 
The  Aztecs  painted  her  as  a  woman  with  countless 
breasts,  the  Peruvians  called  her  Mama  Allpa,  mother 
17 


258  THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN. 

earth ;  the  Caribs  addressed  her  as  Mama  Nono,  "  the 
good  mother  from  whom  all  things  come."1  In  the 
Algonkin  dialects  the  word  for  earth,  ohke,  is  derived 
from  the  same  radical  as  mother  and  father,  a  verbal 
which  means  to  come  forth  from.2  So  in  the  creation 
myths  of  the  Zunis  we  read  of  the  "  Fourfold  contain- 
ing Mother  Earth,"  and  of  "  Earth  with  her  fourfold 
Womb."3 

In  the  legends  of  the  Dakotas,  the  female  Unktahe, 
the  invisible  powers  which  conduct  the  motions  of  the 
world,  dwell  in  the  earth.  It  was  they,  indeed,  who 
first  lifted  it  to  the  surface  of  the  primeval  waters  and 
fitted  it  for  habitable  land.  They  are  still  its  vitalizers, 
and  their  cult  is  connected  with  that  of  the  reproduc- 
tive powers  and  the  lingam  symbol.* 

In  the  legends  of  the  western  Algonkins  the  earth  is 
spoken  of  by  the  tender  word  Nokomis,  my  grand- 
mother, and  from  her  fertile  womb  issued  all  nations 
of  the  world. 

It  was  a  curious  result  of  this  myth  of  the  Earth- 
Mother  that  led  the  Passes  of  Brazil  to  the  surprising 
conclusion  that  the  earth  moves  around  the  sun  !  It 
is  a  great  creature,  said  they,  the  rivers  and  streams  are 
its  bloodvessels,  and  it  turns  itself,  first  one  side  then 
the  other  to  the  sun,  that  it  may  keep  itself  warm.6 

Distinctly  related  to  the  notion  of  the  earth  as  the 
mother  and  matrix  of  men  and  animals  was  the  re- 
verse of  the  concept,  to  wit,  that  which  regarded  her 
as  the  tomb  as  well  as  the  womb  of  all. 

1  Eochefort,  Hist,  des  Isles  Antilles,  p.  469. 

2  Trumbull,  note  to  Koger  Williams,  Lang,  of  America,  p.  56. 
8  Cushing,  Creation  Myths  of  the  Zunis,  p.  379. 

4  Kiggs  in  Dorsey,  Simian  Cults,  pp.  438, 534. 
6  Martius,  Ethnog.  und  Sprach.  Amerikas,  p.  508. 


THE  EARTH-MOTHER.  259 

In  the  esoteric  language  of  the  Nagualists  of  Mexico 
which  preserved  in  later  days  the  national  religion, 
the  earth  was  invoked  as  Tonan,  Our  Mother,  and  as 
"  the  flower  which  contains  all  flowers,"  for  from  her 
prolific  breast  all  come  forth ;  but  another  and  ominous 
one  of  her  titles  was,  "  The  mouth  which  eats  all 
mouths  ;"  for  she  it  is  that  at  last  eats  all  eaters.1 

Those  of  Tezcuco  therefore  painted  her  in  their  sa- 
cred books  under  the  figure  of  a  wild  beast  with  mouths 
at  every  joint,  dripping  with  blood ;  for,  said  they,  she 
it  is  who  eats  and  swallows  all  things.  One  of  her 
names  was  llama,  "The  Old  Woman,"  to  whom  a 
woman  victim  was  sacrificed  at  night,  with  tears  and 
grief,  for  the  earth-mother  will  be  the  grave  of  all  that 
breathes.2  How  appropriate  the  name  was  to  the  na- 
tive mind  is  seen  in  the  Quichua  language  of  Peru, 
where  our  expression,  "  to  grow  old,"  is  rendered  by 
allpa-way, "  to  become  earthen,"  "  to  change  to  earth,"8 
and  unwittingly,  how  correctly  does  it  express  that 
gradual  increase  of  inorganic  matter  in  the  system 
which  is  the  physiological  cause  of  senile  changes ! 

With  almost  the  same  imagery  the  Creeks  in  their 
national  legend  say  that  "  the  Earth  ate  up  the  children 
of  the  ancestors  ;"  and  they  add  that  when  the  day  of 
the  final  extinction  of  their  nation  shall  arrive,  they 
will  disappear  in  "  the  navel  of  the  earth,"  returning 
whence  they  came.4  In  the  Mayan  theogony  the  earth 

1  De  la  Serna,  Manual  de  Ministros,  p.  223. 

2  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  lib.  vi.  c.  44  ;  lib.  x.  c.  29,  etc. 

3  Middendorf,  Keshua  Worterbuch,  s.  v.  allpa. 

*  Gatschet,  Migration  Legend  of  Creeks,  ii.  27.  He  cites  a  similar 
belief  of  the  Klamaths.  In  Aztec  legend,  the  temple  Tlalxicco,  ' '  the 
Navel  of  the  Earth,"  was  supposed  to  be  the  entrance  to  the  un- 
derworld of  the  dead  (Torquemada,  Mm.  Indiana,  lib.  viii.  cap,  12). 


260  TEE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN. 

is,  indeed,  the  common  ancestress  of  the  race  of  men ; 
but  her  usual  name  is  Ix-mucane,  "  the  woman  who 
buries  "  all  things. 

From  the  womb  of  the  earth,  therefore,  figuratively 
or  literally,  did  man,  in  the  primitive  thought  of  many 
races,  proceed  and  emerge.  Homo,  Adam,  chamaigenes, 
what  do  all  these  words  mean  but  the  earth-born,  the 
son  of  the  soil,  repeated  in  the  poetic  language  of  Attica 
in  anthropos,  "he  who  springs  up  as  a  flower?" 

The  word  that  corresponds  to  the  Latin1  homo  in 
American  languages  has  such  singular  uniformity  in  so 
many  of  them,  that  we  might  be  tempted  to  regard  it 
as  a  fragment  of  some  ancient  and  common  tongue, 
their  parent  stem.  In  the  Eskimo  it  is  inuk,  innuk, 
plural  innuit;  in  Athapasca  it  is  dinni,  tennb;  in  Pima, 
tinot ;  in  Algonkin,  mini,  lenni,  inwi;  in  Iroquois,  onwi, 
eniha ;  in  the  Otomi  of  Mexico,  n-aniehe ;  in  Zapotec, 
beni;  in  the  Maya,  inic,  winic,  winak; — all  in  North 
America,  and  the  number  might  be  extended. 

Of  these  only  the  last  mentioned  can  plausibly  be 
traced  to  a  radical  (unless  the  Iroquois  onwi  is  from 
onnha  life,  onnhe  to  live).  This  Father  Ximenes  derives 
from  win,  meaning  to  grow,  to  gain,  to  increase,2  in 
which  the  analogy  to  vegetable  life  is  not  far  off,  an 
analogy  strengthened  by  the  myth  of  that  stock,  which 
relates  that  the  first  of  men  were  formed  of  the  flour 
of  maize.8 

i  From  the  root  ava,  avu,  up,  upward.  The  derivation  is  as  likely 
as  any  other  offered. 

3  Vocabulario  Quiche,  s.  v.,  ed.  Brasseur  (Paris,  1862). 

s  The  Eskimo  innuk,  man,  means  also  a  possessor  or  owner  ;  the 
yolk  of  an  egg  ;  and  the  pus  of  an  abscess  (Egede,  Nachrichten  von 
Gronland,  p.  106).  From  it  is  derived  innuwok,  to  live,  life.  Prob- 
ably innuk  also  means  the  semen  masculinum,  and  in  its  identifica- 


ALL-MOTHER  EARTH.  261 

In  many  other  instances  religious  legend  carries  out 
this  idea.  The  mythical  ancestor  of  the  Caribs  created 
his  offspring  by  sowing  the  soil  with  stones  or  with  the 
fruit  of  the  Mauritius  palm,  which  sprouted  forth  into 
men  and  women,1  while  the  Yurucares  clothed  this 
crude  tenet  in  a  somewhat  more  poetic  form,  fabling 
that  at  the  beginning  the  first  of  men  were  pegged, 
Ariel-like,  in  the  knotty  entrails  of  an  enormous  bole, 
until  the  god  Tiri— a  second  Prospero— released  them 
by  cleaving  it  in  twain.* 

As  in  oriental  legends  the  origin  of  man  from  the 
earth  was  veiled  under  the  story  that  he  was  the  pro- 
geny of  some  mountain  fecundated  by  the  embrace  of 
Mithras  or  Jupiter,  so  the  Indians  often  pointed  to 
some  height  or  some  cavern,  as  the  spot  whence  the 
first  of  men  issued,  adult  and  armed,  from  the  womb 
of  the  All-mother  Earth.  The  oldest  name  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains  is  Paemotinck  or  Pemolnick,  an 
Algonkin  word,  the  meaning  of  which  is  said  to  be 
"the  origin  of  the  Indians."3 

tion  with  pus,  may  not  there  be  the  solution  of  that  strange  riddle 
which  in  so  many  myths  of  the  West  Indies  and  Central  America 
makes  the  first  of  men  to  be  "the  purulent  one?"  (See  ante,  p. 
158.)  In  the  Chipeway  dialect  the  verb  miniw  means  "I  have  a 
running  sore,"  and  "I  beget."  (Baraga,  Otchipwe  Diet. ) 

1  Miiller,  Amer.  Urrelig.,  pp.  109,  229. 

1  D'Orbigny,  Frag,  d'une  Voy.  dans  V Amer.  M6rid.,  p.  512.  It 
is  still  a  mooted  point  whence  Shakespeare  drew  the  plot  of  The 
Tempest.  The  coincidence  mentioned  in  the  text  between  some 
parts  of  it  and  South  American  mythology  does  not  stand  alone. 
Caliban,  the  savage  and  brutish  native  of  the  island,  is  undoubtedly 
the  word  Carib,  often  spelt  Caribani,  and  Calibani  in  older  writers  ; 
and  his  "dam's  god  Setebos"  was  the  supreme  divinity  of  the 
Patagonians  when  first  visited  by  Magellan.  (Pigafetta,  Viaggio 
intorno  al  Globo,  Germ.  Trans.:  Gotha,  1801,  p.  247.) 

3  Both  Lederer  and  John  Bartram  assign  it  this  meaning.     Gal- 


262  THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN. 

The  Witchitas,  who  dwelt  on  the  Red  River  among 
the  mountains  named  after  them,  have  a  tradition  that 
their  progenitors  issued  from  the  rocks  about  their 
homes,1  the  Blackfoot  legends  point  for  the  origin  of 
their  class  to  Nina  Stahu,  "  chief  of  mountains,"  a 
bold,  square-topped  peak  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
near  Lake  Omaxeen,  and  many  other  tribes,  the  Tah- 
kalis,  Navajos,  Coyoteros,  and  the  Haitians,  for  instance, 
set  up  this  claim  to  be  autochthones. 

Most  writers  have  interpreted  this  simply  to  mean 
that  they  knew  nothing  at  all  about  their  origin,  or 
that  they  coined  these  fables  merely  to  strengthen  the 
title  to  the  territory  they  inhabited  when  they  saw  the 
whites  eagerly  snatching  it  away  on  every  pretext.  No 
doubt  there  is  some  truth  in  this,  but  if  they  be  care- 
fully sifted,  there  is  sometimes  a  deep  psychological 
significance  in  these  myths,  which  has  hitherto  escaped 
the  observation  of  students.  An  instance  presents  itself 
in  our  own  country. 

All  those  tribes,  the  Creeks,  Seminoles,  Choctaws, 
Chicasaws,  and  Natchez,  who,  according  to  tradition, 
were  in  remote  times  banded  into  one  common  con- 
federacy under  the  headship  of  the  last  mentioned, 
unanimously  located  their  earliest  ancestry  near  an 
artificial  eminence  in  the  valley  of  the  Big  Black  River, 
in  the  Natchez  country,  whence  they  pretended  to  have 
emerged. 

latin  gives  in  the  Powhatan  dialect  the  word  for  mountain  as 
pomottinke,  doubtless  another  form  of  the  same.  This  curious  rela- 
tionship is  beautifully  illustrated  in  the  Lenape  dialect.  In  it,  pem- 
auchsoheen,  is  "to  cause  to  live  ;"  pemhakamik,  the  earth;  pemhaka- 
mixit,  all  living  creatures  ;  pemhakamixitschik,  mankind.  Brinton 
and  Anthony,  Lendpe-English  Dictionary,  p.  112. 
1  Marcy,  Exploration  of  the  Red  River,  p.  69. 


HOLY  HILLS.  263 

Fortunately  we  have  a  description,  though  a  brief 
one,  of  this  interesting  monument  from  the  pen  of  an 
intelligent  traveller.  It  is  described  as  "  an  elevation 
of  earth  about  half  a  mile  square  and  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  high.  From  its  northeast  corner  a  wall  of  equal 
height  extends  for  near  half  a  mile  to  the  high  land." 

This  was  the  Nunne  Chaha  or  Nunne  Hamgeh,  the 
High  Hill,  or  the  Bending  Hill,  famous  in  Choctaw 
stories,  and  which  Captain  Gregg  found  they  have  not 
yet  forgotten  in  their  western  home.  The  legend  was 
that  in  its  centre  was  a  cave,  the  house  of  the  Master 
of  Breath.  Here  he  made  the  first  men  from  the  clay 
around  him,  and  as  at  that  time  the  waters  covered  the 
earth,  he  raised  the  wall  to  dry  them  on.  When  the 
soft  mud  had  hardened  into  elastic  flesh  and  firm  bone, 
he  banished  the  waters  to  their  channels  and  beds,  and 
gave  the  dry  land  to  his  creatures.1  The  Muskokis  call 
this  mountain  "  King  of  Mountains,"  or  "  King  of  the 
Land,"  rvne  em  mekko. 

It  is  at  first  sight  astonishing  with  what  uniformity 
the  traditional  lore  of  tribes  widely  sundered  in  North 
and  South  America  repeat  the  story  of  the  early  men 
climbing  up  from  the  underworld;  with  what  almost 
monotony  their  religions  refer  to  the  earth  as  the  mother 
of  living  creatures  as  well  as  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
But  the  explanation  which  would  cite  these  similarities 
as  examples  of  a  borrowing,"  or  of  the  "  diffusion  of 
myths,"  is  not  merely  without  historic  support,  but 
misses  in  this  study  the  most  precious  fruit  it  brings  to 
the  science  of  man — the  proof  of  his  psychological  unity, 

i  Compare  Eomans,  Hist,  of  Florida,  pp.  58,  71  ;  Adair,  Hist,  of 
the  North  Am.  Indians,  p.  195  ;  and  Gregg,  Commerce  of  the  Prairies, 
ii.  p.  235.  The  description  of  the  mound  is  by  Major  Heart,  in 
the  Trans,  of  the  Am.  Philos.  Soc.,  iii.  p.  216. 


264  THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN. 

It  is  easy  to  multiply  examples.  We  may  turn,  for 
instance,  to  the  legends  of  the  Iroquois  of  the  north. 
They  with  one  consent,  if  we  may  credit  the  account 
of  Cusic,  looked  to  a  mountain  near  the  falls  of  the 
Oswego  River  in  the  State  of  New  York,  as  the  locality 
where  their  forefathers  first  saw  the  light  of  day,  and 
that  they  had  some  such  legend  the  name  Oneida,  peo- 
ple of  the  Stone,  would  seem  to  testify. 

The  cave  of  Pacari  Tampu,  the  Lodgings  of  the 
Dawn,  was  five  leagues  distant  from  Cuzco,  surrounded 
by  a  sacred  grove  and  inclosed  with  temples  of  great 
antiquity.  From  its  hallowed  recesses  the  mythical 
civilizers  of  Peru,  the  first  of  men,  emerged,  and  in  it 
during  the  time  of  the  flood,  the  remnants  of  the  race 
escaped  the  fury  of  the  waves.1  Viracocha  himself  is 
said  to  have  dwelt  there,  though  it  hardly  needed  this 
evidence  to  render  it  certain  that  this  consecrated 
cavern  is  but  a  localization  of  the  general  myth  of  the 
dawn  rising  from  the  deep.  It  refers  us  for  its  proto- 
type to  the  Aymara  allegory  of  the  morning  light  fling- 
ing its  beams  like  snow-white  foam  athwart  the  waves 
of  Lake  Titicaca. 

An  ancient  legend  of  the  Aztecs  derived  their  nation 
from  a  place  called  Chicomoztoc,  the  Seven  Caverns, 
located  north  of  Mexico.  Antiquaries  have  indulged 
in  all  sorts  of  speculations  as  to  what  this  means. 
Sahagun  explains  it  as  a  valley  so  named ;  Clavigero 
supposes  it  to  have  been  a  city  ;  Hamilton  Smith,  and 
after  him  Schoolcraft,  construed  caverns  to  be  a  figure 
of  speech  for  the  boats  in  which  the  early  Americans 
paddled  across  from  Asia  (!) ;  the  Abbe  Brasseur  con- 
founds it  with  Aztlan,  and  very  many  have  discovered 

1  Balboa,  Hist,  du  Perm,  p.  4. 


HOLY  CAVES.  265 

in  it  a  distinct  reference  to  the  fabulous  "  seven  cities  of 
Cibola  "  and  the  Casas  Grandes,  ruins  of  large  build- 
ings of  unburnt  brick  in  the  valley  of  the  River  Gila. 
From  this  story  arose  the  supposed  sevenfold  division 
of  the  Nahuas,  a  division  which  never  existed  except 
in  the  imagination  of  Europeans. 

"When  Torquemada  adds  that  seven  hero  gods  ruled 
in  Chicomoztoc  and  were  the  progenitors  of  all  its 
inhabitants,  when  one  of  them  turns  out  to  be  Xelhua, 
the  giant  who  with  six  others  escaped  the  flood  by 
ascending  the  mountain  of  Tlaloc  in  the  terrestrial 
paradise  and  afterwards  built  the  pyramid  of  Cholula, 
and  when  we  remember  that  in  one  of  the  flood-myths 
seven  persons  were  said  to  have  escaped  the  waters,  the 
whole  narrative  acquires  a  fabulous  aspect  that  shuts  it 
out  from  history,  and  brands  it  as  one  of  those  fictions 
of  the  origin  of  man  from  the  earth  so  common  to  the 
race. 

Fictions  yet  truths;  for  caverns  and  hollow  trees 
were  in  fact  the  houses  and  temples  of  our  first  parents, 
and  from  them  they  went  forth  to  conquer  and  adorn 
the  world  ;  and  from  the  inorganic  constituents  of  the 
soil  acted  on  by  Light,  touched  by  Divine  Force,  vivi- 
fied by  the  Spirit,  did  in  reality  the  first  of  men  proceed. 

This  cavern,  which  thus  dimly  lingered  in  the 
memories  of  nations,  frequently  expanded  to  a  nether 
world,  imagined  to  underlie  this  of  ours,  and  still 
inhabited  by  beings  of  our  kind,  who  have  never  been 
lucky  enough  to  discover  its  exit. 

According  to  a  myth  extensively  disseminated  among 
the  Caribs,  Arawacks,  Warraus,  Carayas  and  other 
South  American  tribes,  in  the  beginning  of  things  sky 
and  earth  were  as  one,  and  man  abode  within  the  earth 
in  a  joyous  realm,  where  death  and  disease  were  un- 


266  THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN. 

known,  and  even  the  trees  never  rotted  but  lived  on 
forever.  One  day  the  ruler  of  that  happy  realm  walk- 
ing forth  discovered  the  surface  of  the  world  as  we 
know  it,  but  returning  warned  his  people  that  though 
sunlight  was  there,  so  also  were  decay  and  death. 
Some,  however,  went  thither,  and  the  present  unhappy 
race  of  men  are  their  descendants,  while  others  still 
dwell  in  gladness  far  below.1 

The  Mandans  and  Minnetarees  on  the  Missouri  River 
supposed  this  exit  was  near  a  certain  hill  in  their  terri- 
tory, and  as  it  had  been,  as  it  were,  the  womb  of  the 
earth,  the  same  power  was  attributed  to  it  that  in 
ancient  times  endowed  certain  shrines  with  such 
charms ;  and  thither  the  barren  wives  of  their  nation 
made  frequent  pilgrimages  when  they  would  become 
mothers.1 

The  Mandans  added  the  somewhat  puerile  fable  that 
the  means  of  ascent  had  been  a  grapevine,  by  which 
many  ascended  and  descended,  until  one  day  an  im- 
moderately fat  old  lady,  anxious  to  get  a  look  at  the 
upper  earth,  broke  it  with  her  weight,  and  prevented 
any  further  communication.  Yet  even  this  detail  re- 
curs with  precise  parallelism  in  the  legends  of  the 
Warraus,  who  live  a  semi-aquatic  life  at  the  mouths 
of  the  Orinoco.3 

Such  tales  of  an  under-world  are  very  frequent 
among  the  Indians,  and  are  a  very  natural  outgrowth 
of  the  literal  belief  that  the  race  is  earth-born. 

Man  is  indeed  like  the  grass  that  springs  up  and  soon 
withers  away;  but  he  is  also  more  than  this.  The 

1  Ehrenreich,  Die  Karayastamme,  p.  39. 

*  Long's  Expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  i.  p.  274  ;  Catlin's 
Letters,  i.  p.  178. 

8  Im  Thorn,  Indians  of  Guiana,  p.  377. 


SON  OF  THE  GODS.  267 

quintessence  of  dust,  he  is  a  son  of  the  gods  as  well  as 
a  son  of  the  soil.  He  is  a  direct  product  of  the  great 
creative  power ;  therefore  the  Northwest  Coast  Indians 
and  the  Athapascan  tribes  west  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains— the  Kenai,  the  Kolushes,  and  the  Atnai — claim 
descent  from  a  raven — from  that  same  mighty  cloud- 
bird,  Yetl,  already  referred  to,  who  in  the  beginning  of 
things  seized  the  elements  and  brought  the  world  from 
the  abyss  of  the  primitive  ocean. 

The  Athabascans,  situate  more  eastwardly,  the  Dog- 
ribs,  the  Chepewyans,  the  Hare  Indians,  and  also  the 
west  coast  Eskimos,  and  the  natives  of  the  Aleutian 
Isles,  all  believe  that  they  have  sprung  from  a  dog.1 
The  latter  animal,  we  have  already  seen,  both  in  the 
old  and  new  world  was  the  fixed  symbol  of  the  water 
goddess.  Therefore  in  these  myths,  which  are  found 
over  so  many  thousand  square  leagues,  we  cannot  be 
in  error  in  perceiving  a  reflex  of  their  cosmogonical 
traditions  already  discussed,  in  which  from  the  winds 
and  the  waters,  represented  here  under  their  emblems 
of  the  bird  and  the  dog,  all  animate  life  proceeded. 

Without  this  symbolic  coloring,  a  tribe  to  the  south 
of  them,  a  band  of  the  Minnetarees,  had  the  crude  tra- 
dition that  their  first  progenitor  emerged  from  the 
waters,  bearing  in  his  hand  an  ear  of  maize,1  very  much 
as  Viracocha  and  his  companions  rose  from  the  sacred 
waves  of  Lake  Titicaca,  or  as  the  Moxos  imagined  that 
they  were  descended  from  the  lakes  and  river  on  whose 
banks  their  villages  were  situated. 

These  myths,  and  many  others,  hint  of  general  con- 

1  Bichardson,  Arctic  Expedition,  pp.  239,  247.     It  takes  the  place 
of  the  coyote  in  the  myths  of  California.     Stephen  Powers,  Indians 
of  California,  cites  many. 

2  Long,  Exped.  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  i.  p.  326. 


268  THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN. 

ceptions  of  life  and  the  world,  wide-spread  theories  of 
things,  such  as  we  are  not  accustomed  to  expect  among 
savage  nations,  such  as  may  very  excusably  excite  a 
doubt  as  to  their  native  origin,  but  a  doubt  infallibly 
dispelled  by  a  careful  comparison  of  the  best  authorities. 
Is  it  that  hitherto,  in  the  pride  of  intellectual  culture,  we 
have  never  done  justice  to  the  thinking  faculties  of 
those  whom  we  call  barbarians  ?  Or  shall  we  accept  the 
alternative,  that  these  are  the  unappreciated  heirlooms 
bequeathed  a  rude  race  by  a  period  of  higher  civiliza- 
tion, long  since  extinguished  by  constant  wars  and 
ceaseless  fear  ?  Or  that  they  have  been  passed  from 
hand  to  hand  to  America  from  the  famed  and  ancient 
centres  of  civilization  in  Asia  and  Egypt?1 

With  almost  unanimous  consent  the  latter  has  been 
accepted  as  the  true  solution,  but  rather  from  the  pre- 
conceived theory  of  a  state  of  primitive  civilization  from 
which  man  fell,  than  from  ascertained  facts.  Let  us 
rather  prefer  that  explanation  which  has  been  previously 
urged  in  these  pages,  that  the  faculties  of  the  races  of 
men  differ  little,  that  in  dealing  with  the  problems  of 
the  unknown  their  resources  were  limited,  and  that 
often  they  reached  the  same  conceptions  about  it,  and 
embodied  them  under  the  same  or  similar  figures  of 
speech,  myths  and  stories. 

1  I  believe  that  most  students  who  have  long  and  deeply  studied 
the  psychology  of  the  American  aborigines  of  almost  any  tribe  will 
agree  with  these  words  of  H.  E.  Schoolcraft :— "  There  is  a  subtlety 
in  some  of  their  modes  of  thought  and  belief  on  life  and  the  ex- 
istence of  spiritual  and  creative  power,  which  would  seem  to  have 
been  eliminated  from  some  intellectual  crucible  without  the  limits 
of  their  present  sphere  "  (Oneota,  p.  131).  It  is  difficult  for  the  civ- 
ilized man  to  concede  equal  intellectual  faculties  to  those  whom  he 
knows  are  beneath  him  in  acquirements,  so  that  it  at  first  requires 
an  effort  to  accept  this  statement. 


THE  COYOTE.  269 

It  would,  perhaps,  be  pushing  symbolism  too  far  to 
explain  as  an  emblem  of  the  primitive  waters  the 
coyote,  which,  according  to  the  Root-Diggers  of  Cali- 
fornia, brought  their  ancestors  into  the  world ;  or  to 
the  wolf,  which  the  Lenni  Lenape  pretended  released 
mankind  from  the  dark  bowels  of  the  earth  by  scratch- 
ing away  the  soil.  They  should  rather  be  interpreted 
by  the  curious  custom  of  the  Tonka  ways,  a  wild  people 
in  Texas,  of  predatory  and  unruly  disposition.  They 
celebrate  their  origin  by  a  grand  annual  dance.  One 
of  them,  naked  as  he  was  born,  is  buried  in  the  earth. 
The  others,  clothed  in  wolf  skins,  walk  over  him,  snuff 
around  him,  howl  in  lupine  style,  and  finally  dig  him 
up  with  their  nails.  The  leading  wolf  then  solemnly 
places  a  bow  and  arrow  in  his  hands,  and  to  his  in- 
quiry as  to  what  he  must  do  for  a  living,  paternally 
advises  him  "  to  do  as  the  wolves  do— rob,  kill,  and 
murder,  rove  from  place  to  place,  and  never  cultivate 
the  soil."1  Most  wise  and  fatherly  counsel ! 

But  what  is  there  new  under  the  sun  ?  Three  thou- 
sand years  ago  the  Hirpini,  or  Wolves,  an  ancient 
Sabine  tribe,  were  wont  to  collect  on  Mount  Soracte, 
and  there  go  through  certain  rites  in  memory  of  an 
oracle  which  predicted  their  extinction  when  they 
ceased  to  gain  their  living  as  wolves  by  violence  and 
plunder.  Therefore  they  dressed  in  wolf-skins,  ran 
with  barks  and  howls  over  burning  coals,  and  gnawed 
wolfishly  whatever  they  could  seize.2 

Though  hasty  writers  have  often  said  that  the  Indian 
tribes  claim  literal  descent  from  different  wild  beasts, 
probably  in  many  instances,  as  in  these,  this  will  prove, 

1  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  v.  p.  683. 

2  Schwarz,     Unsprung   der    Mythologie,    121 ;    F.    Granger,    The 
Worship  of  the  Romans,  p.  112. 


270  THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN. 

on  examination,  to  be  an  error  resting  on  a  misappre- 
hension arising  from  the  habit  of  the  natives  of  adopt- 
ing as  their  totem  or  clan-mark  the  figure  and  name  of 
some  animal,  or  else,  in  an  ignorance  of  the  animate 
symbols  employed  with  such  marked  preference  by  the 
red  race,  to  express  abstract  ideas.  The  totemic  animal 
is,  to  the  native  mind,  by  no  means  identical  in  traits 
with  a  member  of  the  existing  species. 

In  some  cases,  doubtless,  the  natives  themselves 
came,  in  time,  to  confound  the  symbol  with  the  idea, 
by  that  familiar  process  of  personification  and  conse- 
quent debasement  exemplified  in  the  history  of  every 
religion ;  but  I  do  not  believe  that  a  single  example 
could  be  found  where  an  Indian  tribe  had  a  tradition 
whose  real  purport  was  that  man  came  by  natural 
process  of  descent  from  an  ancestor,  a  brute,  regarded 
merely  as  such. 

The  reflecting  mind  will  not  be  offended  at  the  con- 
tradictions in  these  different  myths,  for  a  myth  is,  in 
one  sense,  a  theory  of  natural  phenomena  expressed 
in  the  form  of  a  narrative.  Often  several  explanations 
seem  equally  satisfactory  for  the  same  fact,  and  the 
mind  hesitates  to  choose,  and  rather  accepts  them  all 
than  rejects  any.  Then,  again,  an  expression  current 
as  a  metaphor  by-and-by  crystallizes  into  a  dogma, 
and  becomes  the  nucleus  of  a  new  mythological  growth. 
These  are  familiar  processes  to  one  versed  in  such 
studies,  and  involve  no  logical  contradiction,  because 
they  are  never  required  to  be  reconciled. 


IMMOETAL1TY  OF  THE  SOUL.  271 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   SOUL  AND   ITS   DESTINY. 

Universality  of  the  belief  in  a  soul  and  a  future  state  shown  by 
the  aboriginal  tongues,  by  expressed  opinions,  and  by  sepulchral 
rites. — The  seat  of  the  soul. — The  "name  soul." — The  future 
world  never  a  place  of  rewards  and  punishments. — The  house  of 
the  Sun  the  heaven  of  the  red  man. — The  terrestrial  paradise 
and  the  under-world. — Cupay. — Xibalba. — Mictlan. — Metem- 
psychosis.— Preservation  of  Bones. — Mummies. — Belief  in  a 
resurrection  of  the  dead  almost  universal. 

rPHE  missionary  Charlevoix  wrote  several  excellent 
•*•  works  on  America  toward  the  beginning  of  the 
last  century,  and  he  is  often  quoted  by  later  authors ; 
but  probably  no  one  of  his  sayings  has  been  thus 
honored  more  frequently  than  this :  "  The  belief  the 
best  established  among  our  Americans  is  that  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul."1  His  statement  is  em- 
phatically supported  by  the  expression  of  one  of  the 
acutest  living  students  of  American  aboriginal  thought 
when  he  says  of  the  Indian :  "  He  knows  he  will  not 
die."2 

The  tremendous  stake  that  every  one  of  us  has  on 
the  truth  of  this  dogma  makes  it  quite  a  satisfaction  to 
be  persuaded  that  no  man  is  willing  to  live  wholly 
without  it.  Certainly  exceptions  are  very  rare,  and 
most  of  those  which  materialistic  philosophers  have 

1  Journal  Hisiorique,  p.  351  (Paris,  1740). 

2  Von  den  Steinen,  Naturvolkcr  Zentral-Braziliens,  p.  348. 


272  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

taken  such  pains  to  collect,  rest  on  misunderstandings 
or  superficial  observation. 

In  the  New  World  I  know  of  only  one  well  authenti- 
cated instance  where  the  notion  of  a  future  state  appears 
to  have  been  entirely  wanting,  and  this  in  quite  a  small 
clan,  the  Lower  Pend  d'Oreilles,  of  Oregon.  This  peo- 
ple had  no  burial  ceremonies,  no  notion  of  a  life  here- 
after, no  word  for  soul,  spiritual  existence,  or  vital 
principle.  They  thought  that  when  they  died,  that  was 
the  last  of  them.  The  Catholic  missionaries  who  under- 
took the  unpromising  task  of  converting  them  to  Chris- 
tianity, were  at  first  obliged  to  depend  upon  the  imper- 
fect translations  of  half-breed  interpreters.  These 
<!  made  the  idea  of  soul  intelligible  to  their  hearers  by 
telling  them  they  had  a  gut  which  never  rotted,  and 
that  this  was  their  living  principle !"  Yet  even  they 
were  not  destitute  of  religious  notions.  No  tribe  was 
more  addicted  to  the  observance  of  charms,  omens, 
dreams,  and  guardian  spirits,  and  they  believed  that  ill- 
ness and  bad  luck  generally  were  the  effects  of  the  anger 
of  a  fabulous  old  woman.1 

The  aborigines  of  the  Californian  peninsula  were  as 
near  beasts  as  men  ever  become.  The  missionaries 
likened  them  to  "herds  of  swine,  who  neither  wor- 
shipped the  true  and  only  God,  nor  adored  false  deities." 
Yet  they  must  have  had  some  vague  notion  of  an  after- 
world,  for  the  writer  who  paints  the  darkest  picture  of 
their  condition  remarks,  "  I  saw  them  frequently  putting 
shoes  on  the  feet  of  the  dead,  which  seems  to  indicate 
that  they  entertain  the  idea  of  a  journey  after  death."2 

1  Rep.  of  the  Commissioner  of  Ind.  A/airs,  1854,  pp.  211,  212.  The 
old  -woman  is  once  more  a  personification  of  the  water  and  the 
moon. 

J  Bsegert,  Ace.  of  the  Aborig.  Tribes  of  the  Californian  Peninsula, 


WOEDS  FOR  SOUL.  273 

Proof  of  Charlevoix's  opinion  may  be  derived  from 
three  independent  sources.  The  aboriginal  languages 
may  be  examined  for  terms  corresponding  to  the  word 
soul ;  the  opinions  of  the  Indians  themselves  may  be 
quoted;  and  the  significance  of  sepulchral  rites  as 
indicative  of  a  belief  in  life  after  death  may  be  deter- 
mined. 

The  most  satisfactory  is  the  first  of  these.  We  call 
the  soul  a  ghost  or  spirit,  and  often  a  shade.  In  these 
words  the  breath  and  the  shadow  are  the  sensuous  per- 
ceptions transferred  to  represent  the  immaterial  object 
of  our  thought.  Why  the  former  was  chosen  I  have 
already  explained;  and  for  the  latter,  that  it  is  man's 
intangible  image,  his  constant  companion,  and  is  of  a 
nature  akin  to  darkness,  earth,  and  night,  are  suffi- 
ciently obvious  reasons. 

These  same  tropes  recur  in  American  languages  in 
the  same  connection.  The  New  England  tribes  called 
the  soul  chemung,  the  shadow,  and  in  Quiche*  natub,  in 
Eskimo  tarnak,  in  Dakota  nagi  express  both  these  ideas. 
In  Mohawk  atonritz,  the  soul,  is  from  atonrion,  to  breathe, 
and  other  examples  to  the  same  purpose  have  already 
been  given.1 

translated  by  Chas.  Kau,  in  Ann.  Rep.  Smithson.  Inst.,  1866,  p. 
387.  Mr.  James  Mooney  (Sacred  Formulas  of  the  Cherokees,  p.  319) 
seems  to  deny  that  the  Cherokees  had  any  belief  in  a  life  here- 
after ;  but  many  of  their  rites  and  expressions  appear  distinctly  to 
imply  such  a  faith. 

1  Of  the  Nicaraguans,  Oviedo  says  :  '' Ce  n'est  pas  leur  cceur  qui 
va  en  haut,  mais  ce  qui  les  faisait  vivre ;  c'est-a-dire,  le  souffle  qui 
leur  sort  par  la  bouche,  et  que  1'on  nomme  Julio  "  (Hist,  du  Nica- 
ragua, p.  36).  The  word  should  be  yulia,  kindred  with  yoli,  to  live 
(Buschmann,  Uber  die  Aztekischen  Ortsnamen,  p.  765).  In  the  Aztec 
and  cognate  languages  we  have  already  seen  that  ehecatl  means 
both  wind,  soul  and  shadow  (Buschmann,  Spuren  der  Aztek.  Spr.  in 
18 


274  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

Of  course,  no  one  need  demand  that  a  strict  immate- 
riality be  attached  to  these  words.  Such  a  colorless 
negative  abstraction  never  existed  for  them,  neither 
does  it  for  us,  though  we  delude  ourselves  into  believ- 
ing that  it  does.  The  soul  was  to  them  the  invisible 
man,  material  as  ever,  but  lost  to  the  appreciation  of 
the  senses. 

Nor  let  any  one  be  astonished  if  its  unity  was 
doubted,  and  several  supposed  to  reside  in  one  body. 
This  is  nothing  more  than  a  somewhat  gross  form  of  a 
doctrine  upheld  by  most  creeds  and  most  philosophies. 
It  seems  the  readiest  solution  of  certain  psychological 
enigmas,  and  may,  for  aught  we  know,  be  an  instinct 
of  fact.  The  Rabbis  taught  a  threefold  division — ne- 
phesh,  the  animal,  ruah,  the  human,  and  neshamah,  the 
divine  soul,  which  corresponds  to  that  of  Plato  into 
thumos,  epithumia,  and  nous.  And  even  Saint  Paul 
seems  to  have  recognized  such  inherent  plurality  when 
he  distinguishes  between  the  bodily  soul,  the  intellec- 
tual soul,  and  the  spiritual  gift,  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Romans. 

No  such  refinements,  of  course,  as  these  are  to  be  ex- 
pected among  the  red  men ;  but  it  may  be  looked  upon 
either  as  the  rudiments  of  these  teachings,  or  as  a  grad- 
ual debasement  of  them  to  gross  and  material  expres- 
sion, that  an  old  and  wide-spread  notion  was  found 
among  both  Iroquois  and  Algonkins,  that  man  has  two 
souls,  one  of  a  vegetative  character,  which  gives  bodily 
life,  and  remains  with  the  corpse  after  death,  until  it  is 
called  to  enter  another  body ;  another  of  more  ethereal 
texture,  which  in  life  can  depart  from  the  body  in  sleep 

Nordlichen  Mexico,  74).     See  also  S.   E.  Biggs,   Dakota  Grammar, 
p.  213. 


THE  MULTIPLE  SOUL.  275 

or  trance,  and  wander  over  the  world,  and  at  death  goes 
directly  to  the  land  of  spirits.1 

The  Sioux  extended  it  to  Plato's  number,  and  are 
said  to  have  looked  forward  to  one  going  to  a  cold 
place,  another  to  a  warm  and  comfortable  country, 
while  the  third  was  to  watch  the  body.  Certainly  a 
most  impartial  distribution  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments.2 Some  other  Dakota  tribes  shared  their  views 
on  this  point,  but  more  commonly,  doubtless  owing  to 
the  sacredness  of  the  number,  imagined  four  souls,  with 
separate  destinies,  one  to  wander  about  the  world,  one 
to  watch  the  body,  the  third  to  hover  around  the  vil- 
lage, and  the  highest  to  go  to  the  spirit  land.3 

Even  this  number  is  multiplied  by  certain  Oregon 
tribes,  who  imagine  one  in  every  member ;  and  by  the 
Caribs  of  Martinique,  who,  wherever  they  could  detect 
a  pulsation,  located  a  spirit,  all  subordinate,  however, 
to  a  supreme  one  throned  in  the  heart,  which  alone 
would  be  transported  to  the  skies  at  death.*  For  the 
heart  that  so  constantly  sympathizes  with  our  emotions 
and  actions,  is,  in  most  languages  and  most  nations, 
regarded  as  the  seat  of  life ;  and  when  the  priests  of 
bloody  religions  tore  out  the  heart  of  the  victim  and 
offered  it  to  the  idol,  it  was  an  emblem  of  the  life  that 
was  thus  torn  from  the  field  of  this  world  and  conse- 
crated to  the  rulers  of  the  next. 

In  many  of  the  native  tongues  the  compound  words 

1  Rd.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  An.  1636,  p.  104  ;  Keating's  Narrative, 
i.  pp.  232,  410.     The  Iroquoian  concept  of  the  double  soul  is  care- 
fully explained  by  J.  N.  B.  Hewitt,  in  Jour,  of  Amer.  Folk-lore, 
1895,  pp.  107,  sqq. 

2  French,  Hist.  Colls,  of  Louisiana,  iii.  p.  26. 

3  Mrs.  Eastman,  Legends  of  the  Sioux,  p.  129. 

*   Voy.  a  la  Louisianefait  en  1720,  p.  155  (Paris,  1768). 


276  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

formed  with  its  name  indicate  that  various  motions  and 
conditions  feelings  were  supposed  to  arise  from  its  con- 
ditions. 

The  seat  of  the  soul  was,  however,  variously  located. 
The  Costa  Rica  Indians  place  the  powers  of  thought 
and  memory  in  the  liver ;  and  a  Thlinkit  legend  relates 
that  the  first  of  all  men  came  into  being  "  when  the 
liver  came  out  from  below,"  showing  that  this  tribe  also 
regarded  that  viscus  as  the  seat  of  life.1  Frequently 
the  head  was  regarded  as  the  vital  member.  Roger 
Williams  remarks  of  the  New  England  Indians :  "  In 
the  braine  theire  opinion  is  that  the  soule  keeps  her 
chiefs  seate  and  residence."2  By  an  easy  metonymy, 
exemplified  in  all  the  classical  languages,  the  head 
represents  the  man,  and  in  this  meaning  appears  in  the 
picture  writing,  in  the  usage  of  preserving  heads  and 
skulls,  and  in  the  custom  of  scalping  which  was 
encountered  by  the  early  explorers  in  both  North  and 
South  America. 

Between  these  various  souls  there  was  a  clear  distinc- 
tion made  by  most  .of  the  aboriginal  philosophers.  In 
their  meditations  on  the  principle  of  personality,  on  the 
Ego,  they  had  reached  certain  subtle  distinctions  not 
unworthy  a  Hegelian  dialectician,  and  which  the  most 
astute  of  students  of  their  thoughts  fails  completely  to 
grasp.  For  example,  Dr.  Washington  Matthews,  a  most 
competent  scholar,  in  explaining  this  doctrine  as  it 
exists  among  the  Navajos,  says  that  the  personal  soul 
is  neither  the  vital  force  which  animates  the  body,  nor 
yet  the  mental  power,  but  a  tertium  quid,  "  a  sort  of 
spiritual  body,"  which  has  the  uncomfortable  habit  of 

1  Gabb,   Ind.   Tribes  of  Costa  Rica,    p.    538 ;    A.  Krause,  Die 
Thlinkit  Indianer,  1885. 
*  Roger  Williams,  Language  of  America,  p.  86. 


THE  NAME-SOUL.  277 

sometimes  leaving  its  owner,  or  getting  lost,  much  to 
his  pain  and  peril.  Just  such  an  unstable  ghost  do  the 
Chinook  Indians  believe  belongs  to  every  one ;  and  the 
recognition  of  it  was  common  in  North  and  South 
America,  Among  the  Nahuas  it  bore  the  name  tonal, 
which  is  probably  from  a  root  meaning  (divine)  knowl- 
edge, or  else  light.1 

In  many  tribes  this  third  soul,  or  "  astral  body," 
bore  a  relation  to  the  private  personal  name.  Among 
the  Mayas  and  Nahuas,  it  was  conferred  or  came  into 
existence  with  the  name,  and  for  this  reason  the  per- 
sonal name  was  sacred  and  rarely  uttered.  It  was  part 
of  the  individuality,  and  through  it  this  capricious  ele- 
ment of  the  I  could  be  injured. 

What  Miss  Fletcher  remarks  of  the  Dakotas  is  true 
generally :  "  The  personal  name  among  Indians  indi- 
cates the  protecting  presence  of  a  deity,  and  must 
therefore  partake  of  the  ceremonial  character  of  the 
Indian's  religion."2  From  almost  any  part  of  the  con- 
tinent I  might  choose  examples  to  illustrate  this.  Let 
us  go  to  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  among  people  who 
a  dozen  years  ago  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  a  white 
man.  They  believe  that  the  person  consists  of  three 
components,  his  living  body,  his  thinking  faculty  and 
his  name  (atekatd).  This  last  enters  the  body  when  the 
child  is  named.  It  survives  physical  death,  whereas  the 
body  and  the  thinking  faculty  die,  the  first  certainly, 
the  latter  sometimes.  After  the  death  of  a  person,  his 
private  name  is  not  mentioned,  and  if  it  is  a  common 
noun,  the  tribe  devise  some  other  term  in  its  place.3 

1  Matthews  in  Amer.  Anthropologist,  May,  1888  ;   Boas,  in  Jour. 
Amer.  Folk-lore,  March,  1893  ;  Brinton,  Nagudism,  p.  11. 

2  Rep.  Peabody  Museum,  1884. 

3  Holm,  Com.  sur.  le  Gronland,  p.  373. 


278  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

In  many  of  the  invocations  of  the  Shamans,  we  find 
the  object  to  be  the  recovery  or  restitution  to  the  indi- 
vidual of  this  soul,  or,  as  Dr.  Rink  says  of  the  Eskimo 
angekoks,  the  "  repairing  the  soul."  Father  de  la  Serna 
cites  a  long  prayer  for  this  special  purpose  and  Dr. 
Matthews  gives  another.  It  is  through  their  malevolent 
influence  on  this  that  the  evil  spirits  and  unfriendly 
sorcerers  cast  sickness  or  misfortune  upon  one,  and  they 
can  go  so  far  as  to  capture  this  soul  or  drive  it  away ; 
wicked  intentions,  to  be  counteracted  by  the  more 
potent  spells  of  the  friendly  shaman  summoned  for  the 
purpose.1 

Various  motives  impel  the  living  to  treat  with  respect 
the  body  from  which  life  has  departed.  Lowest  of 
them  is  a  superstitious  dread  of  death  and  the  dead. 
The  stoicism  of  the  Indian,  especially  the  northern 
tribes,  in  the  face  of  death,  has  often  been  the  topic  of 
poets,  and  has  been  interpreted  to  be  a  fearlessness 
of  that  event.  This  is  by  no  means  true.  Savages 
have  an  awful  horror  of  death ;  it  is  to  them  the 
worst  of  ills ;  and  for  this  very  reason  was  it  that  they 
thought  to  meet  it  without  flinching  was  the  highest 
proof  of  courage. 

Everything  connected  with  the  deceased  was,  in 
many  tribes,  shunned  with  superstitious  terror.  His 
name  was  not  mentioned,  his  property  left  untouched, 
all  reference  to  him  was  sedulously  avoided.  A  Tupi 
tribe  used  to  hurry  the  body  at  once  to  the  nearest 
water,  and  toss  it  in ;  the  Akanzas  left  it  in  the  lodge 
and  burned  over  it  the  dwelling  and  contents ;  and  the 

1  Serna,  Manual  de  Ministros,  p.  223  ;  Matthews,  ubi  supra.  The 
mystical  relations  of  Indian  personal  names  has  been  discussed  by 
many  writers,  as  Garrick  Mallery  (Pictographs),  J.  G.  Bourke,  J. 
W.  Powell,  F.  Boas,  etc.  Also  Kink,  Tales  of  the  Eskimo,  p.  60. 


BURIAL  CUSTOMS.  279 

Algonkins  carried  it  forth  by  a  hole  cut  opposite  the 
door,  and  beat  the  walls  with  sticks  to  fright  away  the 
lingering  ghost.  Burying  places  were  always  avoided, 
and  every  means  taken  to  prevent  the  departed  spirits 
exercising  a  malicious  influence  on  those  remaining 
behind. 

These  craven  fears  do  but  reveal  the  natural  repug- 
nance of  the  animal  to  a  cessation  of  existence,  and 
arise  from  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  essential  to 
organic  life.  Other  rites,  undertaken  avowedly  for  the 
behoof  of  the  soul,  prove  and  illustrate  a  simple  but 
unshaken  faith  in  its  continued  existence  after  the 
decay  of  the  body. 

None  of  these  is  more  common  or  more  natural  than 
that  which  attributes  to  the  emancipated  spirit  the 
same  wants  that  it  felt  while  on  earth,  and  with  loving 
foresight  provides  for  their  satisfaction.  Clothing  and 
utensils  of  war  and  the  chase  were,  in  ancient  times, 
uniformly  placed  by  the  body,  under  the  impression 
that  they  would  be  of  service  to  the  departed  in  his 
new  home.  Some  few  tribes  in  the  far  west  still  retain 
the  custom,  but  most  were  soon  ridiculed  into  its 
neglect,  or  were  forced  to  omit  it  by  the  violation  of 
tombs  practised  by  depraved  whites  in  hope  of  gain. 

To  these  harmless  offerings  the  northern  tribes  often 
added  a  dog  slain  on  the  grave ;  and  doubtless  the  skele- 
tons of  these  animals  in  so  many  tombs  in  Mexico  and 
Peru  point  to  similar  customs  there.  It  had  no  deeper 
meaning  than  to  give  a  companion  to  the  spirit  in  its 
long  and  lonesome  journey  to  the  far  off  land  of  shades. 
The  peculiar  appropriateness  of  the  dog  arose  not  only 
from  the  guardianship  it  exerts  during  life,  but  further 
from  the  symbolic  signification  it  so  often  had  as  rep- 
resentative of  the  goddess  of  night  and  the  grave. 


280  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

Where  a  despotic  form  of  government  reduced  the 
subject  almost  to  the  level  of  a  slave  and  elevated  the 
ruler  almost  to  that  of  a  superior  being,  not  animals 
only,  but  men,  women  and  children  were  frequently 
immolated  at  the  tomb  of  the  cacique. 

The  territory  embraced  in  our  own  country  was  not 
without  examples  of  this  sad  custom.  On  the  lower 
Mississippi  the  Natchez  Indians  practised  it  in  all  its 
ghastliness.  When  a  sun  or  chief  died,  one  or  several 
of  his  wives  and  his  highest  officers  were  knocked  on 
the  head  and  buried  with  him,  and  at  such  times  the 
barbarous  privilege  was  allowed  to  any  of  the  lowest 
caste  to  at  once  gain  admittance  to  the  highest  by  the  de- 
liberate murder  of  their  own  children  on  the  funeral  pyre 
— a  privilege  of  which  respectable  writers  tell  us  human 
beings  were  found  base  enough  to  take  advantage.1 

Oviedo  relates  that  in  the  province  of  Guataro,  in 
Guatemala,  an  actual  rivalry  prevailed  among  the  peo- 
ple to  be  slain  at  the  death  of  their  cacique,  for  they 
had  been  taught  that  only  such  as  went  with  him 
would  ever  find  their  way  to  the  paradise  of  the 
departed.*  Theirs  was  therefore  somewhat  of  a  selfish 
motive,  and  only  in  certain  parts  of  Peru,  where  polyg- 
amy prevailed,  and  the  rule  was  that  only  one  wife 
was  to  be  sacrificed,  does  the  deportment  of  husbands 
seem  to  have  been  so  creditable  that  their  widows 
actually  disputed  one  with  another  for  the  pleasure  of 
being  buried  alive  with  the  dead  body,  and  bearing 
their  spouse  company  to  the  other  world.3  Wives  who 

1  Dupratz,    Hist,  of    Louisiana,    ii.    p.    219 ;     Dumont,    Mems. 
Hist,  sur  la  Louisiane,  i.  chap.  26. 

2  Eel.  de  la  Prov.  de  Cueba,  p.  140. 

3  Coreal,    Voiages  aux  Indes  Occidentals,  ii.  p.  94  (Amsterdam, 
1722). 


JOURNEY  OF  THE  SOUL.  281 

have  found  few  parallels  since  the  famous  matron  of 
Ephesus ! 

The  fire  built  nightly  on  the  grave  was  to  light  the 
spirit  on  his  journey.  By  a  coincidence  to  be  explained 
by  the  universal  sacredness  of  the  number,  both  Al- 
gonkins  and  Mexicans  maintained  it  for  four  nights 
consecutively.  The  former  related  the  tradition  that 
one  of  their  ancestors  returned  from  the  spirit  land 
and  informed  their  nation  that  the  journey  thither 
consumed  just  four  days,  and  that  collecting  fuel  every 
night  added  much  to  the  toil  and  fatigue  the  soul 
encountered,  all  of  which  could  be  spared  it  by  the 
relatives  kindling  nightly  a  fire  on  the  grave.  Or  as 
Longfellow  has  told  it : 

' '  Four  days  is  the  spirit's  journey 
To  the  land  of  ghosts  and  shadows, 
Four  its  lonely  night  encampments. 
Therefore  when  the  dead  are  buried, 
Let  a  fire  as  night  approaches 
Four  times  on  the  grave  be  kindled, 
That  the  soul  upon  its  journey 
May  not  grope  about  in  darkness." 

The  same  length  of  time,  say  the  Navajos,  does  the 
departed  soul  wander  over  a  gloomy  marsh  ere  it  can 
discover  the  ladder  leading  to  the  world  below,  where 
are  the  homes  of  the  setting  and  the  rising  sun,  a  land 
of  luxuriant  plenty,  stocked  with  game  and  covered 
with  corn.  To  that  land,  say  they,  sink  all  lost  seeds 
and  germs  which  fall  on  the  earth  and  do  not  sprout. 
There  below  they  take  root,  bud,  and  ripen  their  fruit.1 
The  Nahuas  held  that  the  journey  of  the  soul  lasted 
four  years  before  it  reached  its  final  resting-place.J 

1  Senate  Rep.  on  the  Indian  Tribes,  p.  358  (Wash.  1867). 

2  Codex  Tdleriano-Remensis. 


282  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

After  four  days,  once  more,  in  the  superstitions  of  the 
Greenland  Eskimos,  does  the  soul,  for  that  term  after 
death  confined  in  the  body,  at  last  break  from  its  prison- 
house  and  either  rise  in  the  sky  to  dance  in  the  aurora 
borealis  or  descend  into  the  pleasant  land  beneath  the 
earth,  according  to  the  manner  of  death.1 

That  there  are  logical  contradictions  in  this  belief  and 
these  ceremonies,  that  the  fire  is  always  in  the  same 
spot,  that  the  weapons  and  utensils  are  not  carried  away 
by  the  departed,  and  that  the  food  placed  for  his  suste- 
nance remains  untouched,  is  very  true.  But  those  who 
would  therefore  argue  that  they  were  not  intended  for 
the  benefit  of  the  soul,  and  seek  some  more  recondite 
meaning  in  them  as  "  unconscious  emblems  of  strug- 
gling faith  or  expressions  of  inward  emotions,"2  are  led 
astray  by  the  very  simplicity  of  their  real  intention. 
Where  is  the  faith,  where  the  science,  that  does  not 
involve  logical  contradictions  just  as  gross  as  these? 
They  are  tolerable  to  us  merely  because  we  are  used  to 
them.  What  value  has  the  evidence  of  the  senses  any- 
where against  a  religious  faith?  None  whatever.  A 
stumbling  block  though  this  be  to  the  materialist,  it  is 
the  universal  truth,  and  as  such  it  is  well  to  accept  it 
as  an  experimental  fact. 

The  preconceived  opinions  that  saw  in  the  meteor- 
ological myths  of  the  Indian  a  conflict  between  the 
Spirit  of  Good  and  the  Spirit  of  Evil,  have  with  like 
unconscious  error  falsified  his  doctrine  of  a  future  life, 
and  almost  without  an  exception  drawn  it  more  or  less 
in  the  likeness  of  the  Christian  heaven,  hell,  and  pur- 
gatory. Very  faint  traces  of  any  such  belief  except 

1  Egede,  Nachrichten  von  Grordand,  p.  145. 

8  Alger,  Hist,  of  the  Doctrine  of  a  Future  Life,  p.  76. 


NO  PLACE  OF  TORMENT.  283 

where  derived  from  the  missionaries  are  visible  in  the 
New  World.  Nowhere  was  any  well-defined  doctrine 
that  moral  turpitude  was  judged  and  punished  in  the 
next  world.  No  contrast  is  discoverable  between  a 
place  of  torments  and  a  realm  of  joy ;  at  the  worst 
but  a  negative  castigation  awaited  the  liar,  the  coward, 
or  the  niggard. 

The  typical  belief  of  the  tribes  of  the  United  States 
was  well  expressed  in  the  reply  of  Esau  Hajo,  great 
medal  chief  and  speaker  for  the  Creek  nation  in  the  Na- 
tional Council,  to  the  question,  Do  the  red  people  believe 
in  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments  ?  "  We 
have  an  opinion  that  those  who  have  behaved  well  are 
taken  under  the  care  of  Esaugetuh  Emissee,  and  as- 
sisted ;  and  that  those  who  have  behaved  ill  are  left  to 
shift  for  themselves ;  and  that  there  is  no  other  pun- 
ishment."1 

Neither  the  delights  of  a  heaven  on  the  one  hand, 
nor  the  terrors  of  a  hell  on  the  other,  were  ever  held 
out  by  priests  or  sages  as  an  incentive  to  well-doing, 
or  a  warning  to  the  evil-disposed.  Different  fates,  in- 
deed, awaited  the  departed  souls,  but  these  rarely,  if 
ever,  were  decided  by  their  conduct  while  in  the  flesh, 
but  by  the  manner  of  death,  the  punctuality  with  which 
certain  sepulchral  rites  were  fulfilled  by  relatives,  or 
other  similar  arbitrary  circumstance  beyond  the  power 
of  the  individual  to  control. 

This  view,  which  I  am  aware  is  at  variance  with  that 
of  all  previous  writers,  may  be  shown  to  be  that  natu- 
ral to  the  uncultivated  intellect  everywhere,  and  the 
real  interpretation  of  the  creeds  of  America.2  Whether 

1  Hawkins,  Sketch  of  the  Creek  Country,  p.  80. 

y  These  words  of  the  first  edition  I  retain,  although  now  the 


284  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

these  arbitrary  circumstances  were  not  construed  to 
signify  the  decision  of  the  Divine  Mind  on  the  life  of 
the  man,  is  a  deeper  question,  which  there  is  no  means 
at  hand  to  solve. 

Those  who  have  complained  of  the  hopeless  confu- 
sion of  American  religions  have  but  proven  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  their  own  means  of  analyzing  them.  The 
uniformity  which  they  display  in  so  many  points  is 
nowhere  more  fully  illustrated  than  in  the  unanimity 
with  which  they  all  point  to  the  sun  as  the  land  of  the 
happy  souls,  the  realm  of  the  blessed,  the  scene  of  the 
joyous  hunting-grounds  of  the  hereafter. 

Its  perennial  glory,  its  comfortable  warmth,  its  daily 
analogy  to  the  life  of  man,  marked  its  abode  as  the 
pleasantest  spot  in  the  universe.  It  matters  not  whether 
the  eastern  Algonkins  pointed  to  the  south,  others  of 
their  nation,  with  the  Iroquois  and  Creeks,  to  the  west, 
or  many  tribes  to  the  east,  as  the  direction  taken  by 
the  spirit ;  all  these  myths  but  mean  that  its  bourn  is 
the  home  of  the  sun,  which  is  perhaps  'in  the  Orient 
whence  he  comes  forth,  in  the  Occident  where  he  makes 
his  bed,  or  in  the  south  whither  he  retires  in  the  chill- 
ing winter. 

Where  the  sun  lives,  they  informed  the  earliest  for- 
eign visitors,  were  the  villages  of  the  deceased,  and  the 
milky  way  which  nightly  spans  the  arch  of  heaven, 
was,  in  their  opinion,  the  road  that  led  thither,  and  was 
called  the  path  of  souls  (le  chemin  des  ames).1  To  hueyu 
Jcu,  the  mansion  of  the  sun,  said  the  Caribs,  the  soul 
passes  when  death  overtakes  the  body.2  To  the  warm 

opinion  of  the  text  is  that  of  many  scholars  who  have  carefully 
studied  the  subject. 

*  Rd.de  la,  Nmiv.  France,  1634,  pp.  17,  18. 

a  Miiller,  Amer.  Urreligionen,  p.  229. 


THE  NATIVE  NIRVANA.  285 

southwest,  whence  blows  the  wind  which  brings  the 
sunny  days  and  the  ripening  corn,  said  the  New  Eng- 
land natives  to  Roger  Williams,  will  all  souls  go.1 

Our  knowledge  is  scanty  of  the  doctrines  taught  by 
the  Incas  concerning  the  soul,  but  this  much  we  do 
know,  that  they  looked  to  the  sun,  their  recognized 
lord  and  protector,  as  he  who  would  care  for  them  at 
death,  and  admit  them  to  his  palaces.  There — not  in- 
deed, exquisite  joys— but  a  life  of  unruffled  placidity, 
void  of  labor,  vacant  of  strong  emotions,  a  sort  of  ma- 
terial Nirvana,  awaited  them.2  For  these  reasons,  they, 
with  most  other  American  nations,  interred  the  corpse 
lying  east  and  west,  and  not  as  the  traveller  Meyen  has 
suggested,5  from  the  reminiscences  of  some  ancient  mi- 
gration. 

Beyond  the  Cordilleras,  quite  to  the  coast  of  Brazil, 
the  innumerable  hordes  who  wandered  through  the 
sombre  tropical  forests  of  that  immense  territory,  also 
pointed  to  the  west,  to  the  region  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, as  the  land  where  the  souls  of  their  ancestors 
lived  in  undisturbed  serenity  ;  or,  in  the  more  brilliant 
imaginations  of  the  later  generations,  in  a  state  of  per- 
ennial inebriety,  surrounded  by  infinite  casks  of  rum, 
and  with  no  white  man  to  dole  it  out  to  them.4 

The  natives  of  the  extreme  south,  of  the  Pampas 
and  Patagonia,  suppose  the  stars  are  the  souls  of  the 
departed.  At  night  they  wander  about  the  sky,  but 
the  moment  the  sun  rises  they  hasten  to  the  cheerful 
light,  and  are  seen  no  more  until  it  disappears  in  the 

1  Language  of  America,  p.  148. 

2  La  Vega,  Hist,  des  Incas,  lib.  ii.  cap.  7. 

3  Ueber  die  Ureinwohner  von  Peru,  p.  41. 

4  Coreal,  Voy.  aux  Indes  Occident.,  i.  p.  224;  Miiller,  Amer.  Ur- 
relig.,  p.  289. 


286  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

west.  So  the  Eskimo  of  the  distant  north,  in  the  long 
winter  nights,  when  the  aurora  bridges  the  sky  with  its 
changing  hues  and  arrowy  shafts  of  light,  believes  he 
sees  the  spirits  of  his  ancestors  clothed  in  celestial  rai- 
ment, disporting  themselves  in  the  absence  of  the  sun, 
and  calls  the  phenomenon  the  dance  of  the  dead. 

The  home  of  the  sun  was  the  heaven  of  the  red  man ; 
but  to  this  joyous  abode  not  every  one  without  distinc- 
tion, no  miscellaneous  crowd,  could  gain  admittance. 
The  conditions  were  as  various  as  the  national  temper- 
aments. As  the  fierce  gods  of  the  Northmen  would 
admit  no  soul  to  the  banquets  of  Walhalla  but  such 
as  had  met  the  "  spear-death  "  in  the  bloody  play  of 
war,  and  shut  out  pitilessly  all  those  who  feebly 
breathed  their  last  in  the  "  straw-death ' '  on  the  couch 
of  sickness,  so  the  warlike  Aztec  race  in  Nicaragua  held 
that  the  shades  of  those  who  died  in  their  beds  went 
downward  and  to  naught ;  but  of  those  who  fell  in 
battle  for  their  country  to  the  east,  "  to  the  place  whence 
comes  the  sun."1 

In  ancient  Mexico  not  only  the  warriors  who  were 
thus  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  their  country,  but  with 
a  delicate  and  poetical  sense  of  justice  that  speaks  well 
for  the  refinement  of  the  race,  also  those  women  who 
perished  in  child-birth,  were  admitted  to  the  home  of 
the  sun.  For  are  not  they  also  heroines  in  the  battle 
of  life?  Are  they  not  also  its  victims?  And  do  they 
not  lay  down  their  lives  for  country  and  kindred  ? 

Every  morning,  it  was  imagined,  the  heroes  came 
forth  in  battle  array,  and  with  shout  and  song  and  the 
ring  of  weapons,  accompanied  the  sun  to  the  zenith, 
where  at  every  noon  the  souls  of  the  mothers,  the 

1  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  Nicaragua,  p.  22. 


THE  PARADISE.  287 

Cihuapipilti,  received  him  with  dances,  music,  and 
flowers,  and  bore  him  company  to  his  western  couch.1 
Except  these,  none — unless  it  may  be  the  victims  sac- 
rificed to  the  gods,  and  this  is  doubtful — was  deemed 
worthy  of  the  highest  heaven. 

A  mild  and  unwarlike  tribe  of  Guatemala,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  persuaded  that  to  die  by  any  other 
than  a  natural  death  was  to  forfeit  all  hope  of  life 
hereafter,  and  therefore  left  the  bodies  of  the  slain  to 
the  beasts  and  vultures. 

The  Mexicans  had  another  place  of  happiness  for 
departed  souls,  not  promising  perpetual  life  as  the 
home  of  the  sun,  but  unalloyed  pleasure  for  a  certain 
term  of  years.  This  was  Tlalocan,  the  realm  of  the 
god  of  rains  and  waters,  the  terrestrial  paradise, 
whence  flowed  all  the  rivers  of  the  earth,  and  all  the 
nourishment  of  the  race.  The  diseases  of  which  per- 
sons died  marked  this  destination.  Such  as  were 
drowned,  or  struck  by  lightning,  or  succumbed  to 
humoral  complaints,  as  dropsies  and  leprosy,  were  by 
these  tokens  known  to  be  chosen  as  the  subjects  of 
Tlaloc. 

To  such,  said  the  natives,  "  death  is  the  commence- 
ment of  another  life,  it  is  as  waking  from  a  dream,  and 
the  soul  is  no  more  human  but  divine  (teotl)."  There- 
fore they  addressed  their  dying  in  terms  like  these: 
"  Sir,  or  lady,  awake,  awake ;  already  does  the  dawn 
appear;  even  now  is  the  light  approaching;  already 
do  the  birds  of  yellow  plumage  begin  their  songs  to 
greet  thee ;  already  are  the  gayly-tinted  butterflies  flit- 
ting around  thee.'" 

1  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  lib.  vi.  cap.  27. 
a  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espana,  lib.  x.  cap.  29. 


288  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  more  gloomy  portion  of 
the  subject,  to  the  destiny  of  those  souls  who  were  not 
chosen  for  the  better  part,  I  must  advert  to  a  curious 
coincidence  in  the  religious  reveries  of  many  nations 
which  finds  its  explanation  in  the  belief  that  the  house 
of  the  sun  is  the  home  of  the  blessed,  and  proves  that 
this  was  the  first  conception  of  most  natural  religions. 

It  is  seen  in  the  events  and  obstacles  of  the  journey 
to  the  happy  land.  We  everywhere  hear  of  a  water 
which  the  soul  must  cross,  and  an  opponent,  either  a 
dog  or  an  evil  spirit,  which  it  has  to  contend  with.  We 
are  all  familiar  with  the  dog  Cerberus  (called  by  Homer 
simply  "  the  dog  "),  which  disputed  the  passage  of  the 
river  Styx,  over  which  the  souls  must  cross ;  and  with 
the  custom  of  the  vikings,  to  be  buried  in  a  boat  so 
that  they  might  cross  the  waters  of  Ginunga-gap  to  the 
inviting  strands  of  Godheim. 

Relics  of  this  belief  are  found  in  the  Koran  which 
describes  the  bridge  el  Sirat,  thin  as  a  hair  and  sharp  as 
a  scimitar,  stretched  in  a  single  span  from  heaven  to 
earth  ;  in  the  Persian  legend,  where  the  rainbow  arch 
Chinevad  is  flung  across  the  gloomy  depths  between 
this  world  and  the  home  of  the  happy ;  and  even  in  the 
current  Christian  allegory  which  represents  the  waters 
of  the  mythical  Jordan  rolling  between  us  and  the 
Celestial  City. 

How  strange  at  first  sight  does  it  seem  that  the 
Hurons  and  Iroquois  should  have  told  the  earliest  mis- 
sionaries that  after  death  the  soul  must  cross  a  deep 
and  swift  river  on  a  bridge  formed  by  a  single  slender 
tree  most  lightly  supported,  where  it  had  to  defend 
itself  against  the  attacks  of  a  dog  71  If  only  they  had 

1  Ed.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1636,  p.  105. 


JOURNEY  OF  THE  SOUL.  289 

expressed  this  belief,  it  might  have  passed  for  a  coinci- 
dence merely.  But  the  Athapascas  (Chepewyans)  also 
told  of  a  great  water,  which  the  soul  must  cross  in  a 
stone  canoe  ;  the  Algonkins  and  Dakotas,  of  a  stream 
bridged  by  an  enormous  snake,  or  a  narrow  and  preci- 
pitous rock,  and  the  Araucanians  of  Chili  of  a  sea  in 
the  west,  in  crossing  which  the  soul  was  required  to  pay 
toll  to  a  malicious  old  woman.  Were  it  unluckily  im- 
pecunious, she  deprived  it  of  an  eye.1 

With  the  Aztecs  this  water  was  called  Chicunoapa, 
the  Nine  Rivers.  It  was  guarded  by  a  dog  and  a  green 
dragon,  to  conciliate  which  the  dead  were  furnished 
with  slips  of  paper  by  way  of  toll.2  The  Greenland 
Eskimos  thought  that  the  waters  roared  through  an 
unfathomable  abyss  over  which  there  was  no  other 
bridge  than  a  wheel  slippery  with  ice,  forever  revolving 
with  fearful  rapidity,  or  a  path  narrow  as  a  cord  with 
nothing  to  hold  on  by.  On  the  other  side  sits  a  horrid 
old  woman  gnashing  her  teeth  and  tearing  her  hair  with 
rage.  As  each  soul  approaches  she  burns  a  feather 
under  its  nose ;  if  it  faints  she  seizes  it  for  her  prisoner, 
but  if  the  soul's  guardian  spirit  can  overcome  her,  it 
passes  through  in  safety.3 

The  similarity  to  the  passage  of  the  soul  across  the 
Styx,  and  the  toll  of  the  obolus  to  Charon  is  in  the 

1  Molina,  Hist,  of  Chili,  ii.  p.  81,  and  others  in  Waitz,  Anthropo- 
logie,  iii.  p.  197. 

2  I  have  given  a  detailed  comparison  of  the  "journey  of  the 
soul  "  as  recorded  in  Aztec,  Egyptian,  Greek  and  Teutonic  beliefs, 
showing  their  remarkable  similarities,  in  Essays  of  an  Americanist, 
pp.  135-147.    How  anachronistic  to  find  Dr.  E.  B.  Tylor  as  late 
as  1894  (Proc.  Si-it.  Assoc.  Adv.  Science)  quoting  such  parallelisms 
as  evidence  of  the  Asiatic  origin  of  Mexican  culture  ! 

3  Nachrichten  von  Gronland  aus  dem  Tagebiiche  von  Bischof  Paid 
JEgede,  p.  104  (Kopenhagen,  1790). 

19 


290  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

Aztec  legend  still  more  striking,  when  we  remember 
that  the  Styx  was  the  ninth  head  of  Oceanus  (omitting 
the  Cocytus,  often  a  branch  of  the  Styx).  The  Nine 
Rivers  probably  refer  to  the  nine  Lords  of  the  Night, 
ancient  Aztec  deities  guarding  the  nocturnal  hours,  and 
introduced  into  their  calendar.  The  Tupis  and  Caribs, 
the  Mayas  and  Creeks,  entertained  very  similar  expect- 
ations. 

We  are  to  seek  the  explanation  of  these  widespread 
theories  of  the  soul's  journey  in  the  equally  prevalent 
tenet  that  the  sun  is  its  destination,  and  that  that  lumi- 
nary has  his  abode  beyond  the  ocean  stream,  which  in 
all  primitive  geographies  rolls  its  waves  around  the 
habitable  land.  This  ocean  stream  is  the  water  which 
all  have  to  attempt  to  pass,  and  woe  to  him  whom  the 
spirit  of  the  waters,  represented  either  as  the  old 
woman,  the  dragon,  or  the  dog  of  Hecate,  seizes  and 
overcomes.  In  the  lush  fancy  of  the  Orient,  the  spirit 
of  the  waters  becomes  the  spirit  of  evil,  the  ocean  stream 
the  abyss  of  hell,  and  those  who  fail  in  the  passage  the 
damned,  who  are  foredoomed  to  evil  deeds  and  endless 
torture. 

No  such  ethical  bearing  as  this  was  ever  assigned 
the  myth  by  the  red  race  before  they  were  taught  by 
Europeans.  Father  Brebeuf  could  only  find  that  the 
souls  of  suicides  and  those  killed  in  war  were  supposed 
to  live  apart  from  the  others ;  "  but  as  to  the  souls  of 
scoundrels,' '  he  adds,  "  so  far  from  being  shut  out,  they 
are  the  welcome  guests,  though  for  that  matter  if  it 
were  not  so,  their  paradise  would  be  a  total  desert,  as 
Huron  and  scoundrel  (Huron  et  larrori)  are  one  and  the 
same."1 

When  the  Minnetarees  told   Major  Long  and  the 

1  Ed.  de  la  Nmiv.  France,  1636,  p.  105. 


NO  PUNISHMENT.  291 

Mannicicas  of  the  La  Plata  the  Jesuits,1  that  the  souls 
of  the  bad  fell  into  the  waters  and  were  swept  away, 
this  was,  beyond  doubt,  attributable  either  to  a  false 
interpretation,  or  to  Christian  instruction.  No  such 
distinction  is  probable  among  savages.  The  Brazilian 
natives  divided  their  dead  into  classes,  supposing  that 
the  drowned,  those  killed  by  violence,  and  those  yield- 
ing to  disease,  lived  in  separate  regions,  but  no  ethical 
reason  whatever  seems  to  have  been  connected  with 
this.2 

If  the  conception  of  a  place  of  moral  retribution  was 
known  at  all  to  the  race,  it  should  be  found  easily  re- 
cognizable in  Mexico,  Yucatan,  or  Peru,  But  the  so- 
called  ''  hells  "  of  their  religions  have  no  such  signifi- 
cance, and  the  spirits  of  evil,  who  were  identified  by 
early  writers  with  Satan,  no  more  deserve  the  name 
than  does  the  Greek  Pluto. 

Qupay  or  Supay,  the  Shadow,  in  Peru  was  supposed 
to  rule  the  land  of  shades  in  the  centre  of  the  earth. 
To  him  went  all  souls  not  destined  to  be  the  compan- 
ions of  the  Sun.  This  is  all  we  know  of  his  attributes ; 
and  the  assertion  of  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  that  he  was 
the  analogue  of  the  Christian  devil,  and  that  his  name 
was  never  pronounced  without  spitting  and  muttering 
a  curse  on  his  head,  may  be  invalidated  by  the  testi- 
mony of  an  earlier  and  better  authority  on  the  religion 
of  Peru,  who  calls  him  the  god  of  rains,  and  adds  that 
the  famous  Inca,  Huyana  Capac,  was  his  high  priest.' 

1  Long's  Expedition,  i.  p.  280 ;  Waitz,  Anlhropologie,  iii.  p.  531. 

2  Miiller,  Amer.  Urrdigionen,  p.  287. 

8  Compare  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  Hist,  des  Incas,  liv.  ii.  chap, 
ii.,  with  Lett,  sur  les  Superstitions  du  Perou,  p.  104.  Cupay  is  un- 
doubtedly a  personal  form  from  Qtipan,  a  shadow.  (See  Holguin, 
Vocab.  de  la  Lengua  Quichua,  p.  80  :  Cuzco,  1608.) 


292  TEE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

"  The  devil,"  says  Cogolludo  of  the  Mayas,  "  is  called 
by  them  Xibilha,  which  means  he  who  disappears  or 
vanishes."1  In  the  legends  of  the  Quiches,  the  name 
Xibalba  is  given  as  that  of  the  under-world  ruled  by 
the  grim  lords  One  Death  and  Seven  Deaths.  The  de- 
rivation of  the  name  is  from  a  root  meaning  to  fear, 
from  which  comes  the  term  in  Maya  dialects  for  a 
ghost  or  phantom.2 

Under  the  influence  of  a  century  of  Christian  cate- 
chizing, the  Quiche  legends  portray  this  really  as  a 
place  of  torment,  and  its  rulers  as  malignant  and  pow- 
erful ;  but  as  I  have  before  pointed  out,  they  do  so,  pro- 
testing that  such  was  not  the  ancient  belief,  and  they  let 
fall  no  word  that  shows  that  it  was  regarded  as  the  desti- 
nation of  the  morally  bad.  The  original  meaning  of  the 
name  given  by  Cogolludo  points  unmistakably  to  the 
simple  fact  of  disappearance  from  among  men,  and 
corresponds  in  harmlessness  to  the  true  sense  of  those 
words  of  fear,  Scheol,  Hades,  Hell,  all  signifying  hidden 
from  sight,  and  only  endowed  with  more  grim  associa- 
tions by  the  imaginations  of  later  generations.3 

Mictlanteuctli,  Lord  of  Mictlan,  from  a  word  mean- 
ing to  kill,  was  the  Mexican  Pluto.  Like  Qupay,  he 
dwelt  in  the  subterranean  regions,  and  his  palace  was 
named  Tlalxicco,  the  navel  of  the  earth.  Yet  he  was 

1  "Elque  desparece  6  desvanece,"  Hist,  de    Yucathan,  lib.  iv. 
cap.  7. 

2  Ximenes,   Vocab.   QuicU,  p.  224.     The  attempt  of  the  Abb6 
Brasseur  to  make  of  Xibalba  an  ancient  kingdom  of  renown,  with 
Palenque  as  its  capital,  is  so  unsupported  as  to  justify  the  humor- 
ous flings  which  have  so  often  been  cast  at  antiquaries. 

3  Scheol  is  from  a  Hebrew  word,  signifying  to  dig,  to  hide  in 
the  earth.  Hades  signifies  the  unseen  world.     Hell  Jacob  Grimm 
derives  from  httan,  to  conceal   in   the   earth,  and   it   is  cognate 
with  hole  and  hollow. 


THE  ABODE  OF  THE  DEAD.          293 

also  located  in  the  far  north,  and  that  point  of  the 
compass  and  the  north  wind  were  named  after  him. 
Those  who  descended  to  him  were  oppressed  by  the 
darkness  of  his  abode,  but  were  subjected  to  no  other 
trials ;  nor  were  they  sent  thither  as  a  punishment,  but 
merely  from  having  died  of  diseases  unfitting  them  for 
Tlalocan. 

Doubtless  in  many  instances  the  darkened  abode  of 
the  dead  was  regarded  with  that  natural  fear  and  hor- 
ror which  everywhere  environ  the  fact  of  death. 
Among  the  Nahuas  it  bore  the  ominous  name,  "the 
valley  of  Ximohuayan,"  eternal  oblivion,  and  Apoch- 
quiahuayan,  "  where  there  are  neither  tracks  nor 
trails."  Both  with  them,  with  the  Mayas  and  with  the 
Caribs  of  the  South,  its  principal  deity  was  represented 
by  the  bat,  the  ill-omened  bird  of  darkness.1 

Mictlanteuctli  was  said  to  be  the  most  powerful  of 
the  gods.  For  who  is  stronger  than  Death  ?  And  who 
dare  defy  the  Grave  ?  As  the  skald  lets  Odin  say  to 
Bragi :  "  Our  lot  is  uncertain  ;  even  on  the  hosts  of  the 
gods  gazes  the  gray  Fenris  wolf."1 

These  various  abodes  to  which  the  incorporeal  man 
took  flight  were  not  always  his  everlasting  home.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  where  a  plurality  of  souls  was 
believed,  one  of  these,  soon  after  death,  entered  another 
body  to  recommence  life  on  earth.  Acting  under  this 
persuasion,  the  Algonkin  women  who  desired  to  become 
mothers,  flocked  to  the  couch  of  those  about  to  die, 
in  hope  that  the  vital  principle,  as  it  passed  from  the 
body,  would  enter  theirs,  and  fertilize  their  sterile 

1  Tezozomoc,  Cronica  Mexicana,  cap.  81  ;  Sahagun,  Historia,  lib. 
iii.  App.  cap.  1.    On  the  Bat  God,  Dr.  Seler  has  written  an  excel- 
lent monograph  in  Verhand.  der  Berlin.  Anthrop.  GeselL,  Dec.  1894. 

2  Pennock,  Religion  of  the  Northmen,  p.  148. 


294  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

wombs;  and  when,  among  the  Seminoles  of  Florida,  a 
mother  died  in  childbirth,  the  infant  was  held  over  her 
face  to  receive  her  parting  spirit,  and  thus  acquire 
strength  and  knowledge  for  its  future  use.1 

So  among  the  Takahlis,  the  priest  is  accustomed  to 
lay  his  hand  on  the  head  of  the  nearest  relative  of  the 
deceased,  and  to  blow  into  him  the  soul  of  the  departed, 
which  is  supposed  to  come  to  life  in  his  next  child.2 
Probably,  with  a  reference  to  the  current  tradition  that 
ascribes  the  origin  of  man  to  the  earth,  and  likens  his 
life  to  that  of  the  plant,  the  Mexicans  were  accustomed 
to  say  that  at  one  time  all  men  have  been  stones,  and 
that  at  last  they  would  all  return  to  stones  ;3  and,  act- 
ing literally  on  this  conviction,  they  interred  with  the 
bones  of  the  dead  a  small  green  stone,  which  was 
called  the  principle  of  life. 

Whether  any  nations  accepted  the  doctrine  of  me- 
tempsychosis, and  thought  that  "the  souls  of  their 
grandams  might  haply  inhabit  a  partridge,"  we  are 
without  the  means  of  knowing.  La  Hontan  denies  it 
positively  of  the  Algonkins  ;  but  the  natives  of  Popo- 
yan  refused  to  kill  doves,  says  Coreal,4  because  they 
believe  them  inspired  by  the  souls  of  the  departed. 
And  Father  Ignatius  Chome  relates  that  he  heard  a 
woman  of  the  Chiriquanes  in  Buenos  Ay  res  say  of  a  fox : 
"  May  that  not  be  the  spirit  of  my  dead  daughter  ?"5 

But  before  accepting  such  testimony  as  decisive,  we 
must  first  inquire  whether  these  tribes  believed  in  a 

1  La  Hontan,  Voy.  dans  F  Am.  Sept.,  i.  p.  232  ;  Narrative  of  Oceola 
Nikkanoche,  p.  75. 

3  Morse,  Rep.  on  the  Ind.  Tribes,  App.  p.  345. 
1  Garcia,  Or.  de  los  Indies,  lib.  iv.  cap.  26,  p.  310. 
*  Voiages  aux  Indes  Oc.,  ii.  p.  132. 
6  Lettres  Edif.  et  Cur.,  v.  p.  203. 


THE  RESURRECTION.  295 

multiplicity  of  souls,  whether  these  animals  had  a 
symbolical  value,  and  if  not,  whether  the  soul  was  not 
simply  presumed  to  put  on  this  shape  in  its  journey 
to  the  land  of  the  hereafter :  inquiries  which  are  unan- 
swered. Leaving,  therefore,  the  question  open,  whether 
the  sage  of  Samos  had  any  disciples  in  the  new  world, 
another  and  more  fruitful  topic  is  presented  by  their 
well-ascertained  notions  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

This  seemingly  extraordinary  doctrine,  which  some 
have  asserted  was  entirely  unknown  and  impossible  to 
the  American  Indians,1  was  in  fact  one  of  their  most 
deeply-rooted  and  wide-spread  convictions,  especially 
among  the  tribes  of  the  eastern  United  States.  It  is 
indissolubly  connected  with  their  highest  theories  of  a 
future  life,  their  burial  ceremonies,  and  their  modes  of 
expression. 

The  Moravian  Brethren  give  the  grounds  of  this 
belief  with  great  clearness :  "  That  they  hold  the  soul 
to  be  immortal,  and  perhaps  think  the  body  will  rise 
again,  they  give  not  unclearly  to  understand  when  they 
say, '  We  Indians  shall  not  for  ever  die ;  even  the  grains 
of  corn  we  put  under  the  earth,  grow  up  and  become 
living  things.'  They  conceive  that  when  the  soul  has 
been  a  while  with  God,  it  can,  if  it  chooses,  return  to 
earth  and  be  born  again."2 

This  is  the  highest  and  typical  creed  of  the  aborig- 
ines. But  instead  of  simply  being  born  again  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  they  thought  the  soul 
would  return  to  the  bones,  that  these  would  clothe 
themselves  with  flesh,  and  that  the  man  would  rejoin 
his  tribe.  That  this  was  the  real,  though  often  doubt- 
less the  dimly  understood  reason  of  the  custom  of 

1  Alger,  Hist,  of  the  Doctrine  of  a  Future  Life,  p.  72. 

2  Loskiel,  Ges.  der  Miss,  der  evang.  Sruder,  p.  49. 


296  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

preserving  the  bones  of  the  deceased,  can  be  shown  by 
various  arguments. 

This  practice  was  almost  universal.  East  of  the 
Mississippi  nearly  every  nation  was  accustomed,  at 
stated  periods — usually  once  in  eight  or  ten  years — to 
collect  and  clean  the  osseous  remains  of  those  of  its 
number  who  had  died  in  the  intervening  time,  and 
inter  them  in  one  common  sepulchre,  lined  with  choice 
furs,  and  marked  with  a  mound  of  wood,  stone,  and 
earth.  Such  is  the  origin  of  those  immense  tumuli 
filled  with  the  mortal  remains  of  nations  and  genera- 
tions which  the  antiquary,  with  irreverent  curiosity, 
has  so  frequently  chanced  upon  in  all  portions  of  our 
territory. 

Throughout  Central  America  the  same  usage  obtained 
in  various  localities,  as  early  writers  and  existing  mon- 
uments abundantly  testify.  Instead  of  interring  the 
bones,  were  they  those  of  some  distinguished  chieftain, 
they  were  deposited  in  the  temples  or  the  council- 
houses,  usually  -in  small  chests  of  canes  or  splints. 
Such  were  the  charnel-houses  which  the  historians  of 
De  Soto's  expedition  so  often  mentioned,  and  these  are 
the  "arks'*  which  Adair  and  other  authors,  who  have 
sought  to  trace  the  descent  of  the  Indians  from  the 
Jews,  have  likened  to  that  which  the  ancient  Israelites 
bore  with  them  on  their  migrations.  A  widow  among 
the  Tahkalis  was  obliged  to  carry  the  bones  of  her  de- 
ceased husband  wherever  she  went  for  four  years,  pre- 
serving them  in  such  a  casket  handsomely  decorated 
with  feathers.1 

The  Caribs  of  the  mainland  adopted  the  custom  for 
all  without  exception.  About  a  year  after  death  the 

1  Kicbardson,  Arctic  Expedition,  p.  260. 


ANCESTRAL  WORSHIP.  297 

bones  were  cleaned,  bleached,  painted,  wrapped  in 
odorous  balsams,  placed  in  a  wicker  basket,  and  kept 
suspended  from  the  door  of  their  dwellings.1  When 
the  quantity  of  these  heirlooms  became  burdensome, 
they  were  removed  to  some  inaccessible  cavern,  and 
stowed  away  with  reverential  care.  Such  was  the  cave 
Ataruipe,  a  visit  to  which  has  been  so  eloquently  de- 
scribed by  Alexander  von  Humboldt  in  his  "  Views  of 
Nature." 

So  great  was  the  filial  respect  for  these  remains  by 
the  Indians,  that  on  the  Mississippi,  in  Peru,  and  else- 
where, no  tyranny,  no  cruelty,  so  embittered  the  in- 
digenes against  the  white  explorers  as  the  sacrilegious 
search  for  treasures  perpetrated  among  the  sepulchres 
of  past  generations.  Unable  to  understand  the  mean- 
ing of  such  deep  feeling,  so  foreign  to  the  European 
who,  without  a  second  thought,  turns  a  cemetery  into 
a  public  square,  or  seeds  it  down  in  wheat,  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  in  Paraguay  accuse  the  natives  of  wor- 
shipping the  skeletons  of  their  forefathers,  and  the 
English  of  Virginia  repeated  it  of  the  Powhatans.2 

In  a  certain  sense  this  may  be  regarded  as  a  devel- 
opment of  the  worship  of  ancestors.  In  America,  how- 
ever, ancestral  worship  in  its  true  sense,  as  it  has  long 
existed  in  China  for  example,  was  not  prominent.  The 
Knisteneaux  on  Nelson  River  were  accustomed  to 
strangle  their  parents  when  old ;  yet  each  master  of  a 

-  Gumilla,  Hist,  del  Orinoco,  i.  pp.  199,  202,  204. 

1  Much  light  is  thrown  upon  the  native  beliefs  in  the  destiny  of 
the  soul  and  the  after  life,  by  an  intelligent  analysis  of  funeral 
rites  and  ceremonies.  Excellent  material  for  this  is  furnished  by 
the  essays  of  Dr.  H.  C.  Yarrow,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Mortuary 
Customs  among  the  American  Indians  (Washington,  1880),  and  a 
"Further  Contribution  "  in  1st  An.  Kep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 


298  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

family,  the  deed  performed,  kept  by  him  a  bunch  of 
feathers  tied  with  a  string,  called  it "  his  father's  head," 
and  regarded  it  with  superstitious  reverence.1 

The  Aztecs  celebrated  a  feast  to  the  dead  once  in  each 
year,  at  which  time  they  gazed  to  the  north  and  called 
upon  their  ancestors  to  "  come  soon,  for  we  wait  you." 
The  Quiches  of  Guatemala  had  a  similar  annual  fes- 
tival when  they  recited  the  names  of  their  deceased 
ancestors,  and  when  also  each  person  visited  the  spot 
where  his  or  her  navel-string  had  been  buried.2  The 
Tupis  worshipped  Tamoin  and  the  Incas  Pacarina, 
alleged  ancestors  of  their  nation,  but  only  in  the  recon- 
dite sense  well  explained  by  Mr.  Markham,  "  as  the 
forefathers  of  the  clan  idealized  in  the  soul  or  essence 
of  his  descendants."8 

In  some  of  the  gentes  in  various  parts  of  the  conti- 
nent there  prevailed  a  belief  that  the  soul  would  some- 
how return  to  the  eponymous  ancestor ;  that  is,  that 
those  of  the  buffalo  gens,  for  example,  would  at  death 
either  enter  buffaloes,  or  go  where  dwells  the  great 
original  buffalo.4  For  the  totemic  eponym,  or  original 
forefather  of  the  gens  was  not  considered  to  be  a  brute 
merely,  but  one  of  the  mighty  primal  spirits  to  whom 
was  given  or  who  had  assumed  the  brute  form.5 

The  question  has  been  debated  and  variously  an- 
swered, whether  the  art  of  mummification  was  known 
and  practised  in  America.  Without  entering  into  the 

J.  Robson,  Ac.  of  Res.  in  Hudson  Bay,  p.  48. 
Codex  Tetteriano-Rernensis,  p.   192 ;    Brinton,  Native  Calendar, 
17. 

C.  E.  Markham,  Jour.  Roy.  Geog.  Soc.,  1871,  p.  291. 
J.  O.  Dorsey,  Siouan  Cults,  p.  542. 

As  Dr.  W.  J.  Hoffman  reports  of  the  Menomonis,  Amer.  An- 
thropologist, July,  1890. 


MUMMIES.  299 

discussion,  it  is  certain  that  preservation  of  the  corpse 
by  a  long  and  thorough  process  of  exsiccation  over  a 
slow  fire  was  nothing  unusual,  not  only  in  Peru,  Po- 
poyan,  the  Carib  countries,  and  Nicaragua,  but  among 
many  of  the  tribes  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  as  I 
have  elsewhere  shown.1  The  object  was  essentially  the 
same  as  when  the  bones  alone  were  preserved ;  and  in 
the  case  of  rulers,  the  same  homage  was  often  paid  to 
their  corpses  as  had  been  the  just  due  of  their  living 
bodies.2 

The  opinion  underlying  all  these  customs  was,  that 
a  part  of  the  soul,  or  one  of  the  souls,  dwelt  in  the 
bones ;  that  these  were  the  seeds  which,  planted  in  the 
earth,  or  preserved  unbroken  in  safe  places,  would,  in 
time,  put  on  once  again  a  garb  of  flesh,  and  germinate 
into  living  human  beings.  Language  illustrates  this 
not  unusual  theory.  The  Iroquois  word  for  bone  is 
esken — for  soul,  atisken,  literally  that  which  is  within 
the  bone.s  In  an  Athapascan  dialect  bone  is  yani,  soul 
i-yune.'  The  Hebrew  Rabbis  taught  that  in  the  bone 
lutz,  the  coccyx,  remained  at  death  the  germ  of  a  sec- 
ond life,  which,  at  the  proper  time  would  develop  into 
the  purified  body,  as  the  plant  from  the  seed. 

But  mythology  and  superstitions  add  more  decisive 
testimony.  One  of  the  Aztec  legends  of  the  origin  of 
man  was,  that  after  one  of  the  destructions  of  the  world 
the  gods  took  counsel  together  how  to  renew  the  spe- 
cies. It  was  decided  that  one  of  their  number,  Xolotl, 
should  descend  to  Mictlan,  the  realm  of  the  dead,  and 
bring  thence  a  bone  of  the  perished  race.  The  frag- 

1  Notes  on  the  Floridian  Peninsula,  pp.  191  sqq. 

2  See  Dr.  H.  C.  Yarrow,  1st  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnology,  pp.  130-137. 

3  Bruyas,  Rod.   Verborum  Iroquceorum. 

*  Buschmann,  Athapask.  Sprachstamm,  pp.  182,  188. 


300  THE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

ments  of  this  they  sprinkled  with  blood,  and  on  the 
fourth  day  it  grew  into  a  youth,  the  father  of  the 
present  race.1 

The  profound  mystical  significance  of  this  legend  is 
reflected  in  one  told  by  the  Quiches,  in  which  the  hero 
gods  Hunahpu  and  Xblanque  succumb  to  the  rulers  of 
Xibalba,  the  darksome  powers  of  death.  Their  bodies 
are  burned,  but  their  bones  are  ground  in  a  mill  and 
thrown  in  the  waters,  lest  they  should  come  to  life. 
Even  this  precaution  is  insufficient — "  for  these  ashes 
did  not  go  far ;  they  sank  to  the  bottom  of  the  stream, 
where,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  they  were  changed 
into  handsome  youths,  and  their  very  same  features 
appeared  anew.  On  the  fifth  day  they  displayed 
themselves  anew,  and  were  seen  in  the  water  by  the 
people,"2  whence  they  emerged  to  overcome  and  de- 
stroy the  powers  of  death  and  hell  (Xibalba). 

The  strongest  analogies  to  these  myths  are  offered 
by  the  superstitious  rites  of  distant  tribes.  Some  of 
the  Tupis  of  Brazil  were  wont  on  the  death  of  a  rela- 
tive to  dry  and  pulverize  his  bones  and  then  mix  them 
with  their  food,  a  nauseous  practice  they  defended  by 
asserting  that  the  soul  of  the  dead  remained  in  the 
bones  and  lived  again  in  the  living.3  Even  the  lower 
animals  were  supposed  to  follow  the  same  law.  Hardly 
any  of  the  hunting  tribes,  before  their  original  manners 
were  vitiated  by  foreign  influence,  permitted  the  bones 
of  game  slain  in  the  chase  to  be  broken,  or  left  care- 
lessly about  the  encampment.  They  were  collected  in 
heaps,  or  thrown  into  the  water.  Mrs.  Eastman  ob- 
serves that  even  yet  the  Dakotas  deem  it  an  omen  of 

1  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  lib.  vi.  cap.  41. 

2  Le  Livre  SacrZ  des  Quiches,  pp.  175-177. 

3  Muller,  Amer.  Urrdig.,  p.  290,  after  Spix. 


SOUL  IN  THE  BONES.  301 

ill  luck  in  the  hunt,  if  the  dogs  gnaw  the  bones  or  a 
woman  inadvertently  steps  over  them ;  and  the  Chipe- 
way  interpreter,  John  Tanner,  speaks  of  the  same  fear 
among  that  tribe. 

The  Yurucares  of  Bolivia  carried  it  to  such  an  incon- 
venient extent,  that  they  carefully  put  by  even  small 
fish  bones,  saying  that  unless  this  is  done  the  fish  and 
game  will  disappear  from  the  country.1  The  traveller 
on  our  western  prairies  often  notices  the  buffalo  skulls, 
countless  numbers  of  which  bleach  on  those  vast 
plains,  arranged  in  circles  and  symmetrical  piles  by  the 
careful  hands  of  the  native  hunters.  The  explanation 
they  offer  for  this  custom  gives  the  key  to  the  whole 
theory  and  practice  of  preserving  the  oss  eous  relics  of 
the  dead,  as  well  human  as  brute.  They  say  that 
"  the  bones  contain  the  spirits  of  the  slain  animals,  and 
that  some  time  in  the  future  they  will  rise  from  the 
earth,  re-clothe  themselves  with  flesh,  and  stock  the 
prairies  anew."2 

This  explanation,  which  comes  to  us  from  indisputa- 
ble authority,  sets  forth  in  its  true  light  the  belief  of 
the  red  race  in  a  resurrection.  It  is  not  possible  to 
trace  it  out  in  the  subtleties  with  which  theologians 
have  surrounded  it  as  a  dogma.  The  very  attempt 
would  be  absurd.  They  never  occurred  to  the  Indian. 
He  thought  that  the  soul  now  enjoying  the  delights  of 
the  happy  hunting  grounds  would  some  time  return  to 
the  bones,  take  on  flesh,  and  live  again. 

Such  is  precisely  the  much  discussed  statement  that 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  says  he  often  heard  from  the 
native  Peruvians.  He  adds  that  so  careful  were  they 
lest  any  of  the  body  should  be  lost  that  they  preserved 

1  D'Orbigny,  Annuaire  des  Voyages,  1845,  p.  77. 

2  Long's  Expedition,  i.  p.  278. 


302  TEE  SOUL  AND  ITS  DESTINY. 

even  the  parings  of  their  nails  and  clippings  of  the 
hair.1  In  contradiction  to  this  the  writer  Acosta  has 
heen  quoted,  who  says  that  the  Peruvians  embalmed 
their  dead  because  they  "  had  no  knowledge  that  the 
bodies  should  rise  with  the  soul."2  But,  rightly  under- 
stood, this  is  a  confirmation  of  La  Vega's  account. 
Acosta  means  that  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  body 
rising  from  the  dust  being  unknown  to  the  Peruvians 
(which  is  perfectly  true),  they  preserved  the  body  just 
as  it  was,  so  that  the  soul  when  it  returned  to  earth,  as 
all  expected,  might  not  be  at  a  loss  for  a  house  of  flesh. 

The  notions  thus  entertained  by  the  red  race  on  the 
resurrection  are  peculiar  to  it,  and  stand  apart  from 
those  of  any  other.  They  did  not  look  for  the  second' 
life  to  be  either  better  or  worse  than  the  present  one ; 
they  regarded  it  neither  as  a  reward  nor  a  punishment 
to  be  sent  back  to  the  world  of  the  living  ;  nor  is  there 
satisfactory  evidence  that  it  was  ever  distinctly  con- 
nected with  a  moral  or  physical  theory  of  the  destiny 
of  the  universe,  or  even  with  their  prevalent  expecta- 
tion of  recurrent  epochs  in  the  course  of  nature. 

It  is  true  that  a  writer  whose  personal  veracity  is 
above  all  doubt,  Mr.  Adam  Hodgson,  relates  an  ancient 
tradition  of  the  Choctaws,  to  the  effect  that  the  present 
world  will  be  consumed  by  a  general  conflagration, 
after  which  it  will  be  reformed  pleasanter  than  it  now 
is,  and  that  then  the  spirits  of  the  dead  will  return  to 
the  bones  in  the  bone  mounds,  flesh  will  knit  together 
their  loose  joints,  and  they  shall  again  inhabit  their 
ancient  territory.3 

There  was  also  a  similar  belief  among  the  Eskimos. 

1  Hist,  deslncas,  lib.  iii.  chap.  7. 

2  Hist,  of  the  New  World,  bk.  v.  chap.  7. 
8  Travels  in  North  America,  p.  280. 


A  MILLENNIUM.  303 

They  said  that  in  the  course  of  time  the  waters  will 
overwhelm  the  land,  purify  it  of  the  blood  of  the  dead, 
melt  the  icebergs,  and  wash  away  the  steep  rocks.  A 
wind  will  then  drive  off  the  waters,  and  the  new  land 
will  be  peopled  by  reindeers  and  young  seals.  Then 
will  He  above  blow  once  on  the  bones  of  the  men  and 
twice  on  those  of  the  women,  whereupon  they  will  at 
once  start  into  life,  and  lead  thereafter  a  joyous  exist- 
ence.1 

But  though  there  is  nothing  in  these  narratives  alien 
to  the  course  of  thought  in  the  native  mind,  yet  as  the 
date  of  the  first  is  recent  (1820),  as  they  are  not  sup- 
ported (so  far  as  I  know)  by  similar  traditions  else- 
where, and  as  they  may  have  arisen  from  Christian 
doctrines  of  a  millennium,  I  leave  them  for  future  in- 
vestigation. 

What  strikes  us  the  most  in  this  analysis  of  the 
opinions  entertained  by  the  red  race  on  a  future  life  is 
the  clear  and  positive  hope  of  a  hereafter,  in  such  strong 
contrast  to  the  feeble  and  vague  notions  of  the  ancient 
Israelites,  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  yet  the  entire  inert- 
ness of  this  hope  in  leading  them  to  a  purer  moral  life. 
It  offers  another  proof  that  the  fulfilment  of  duty  is  in 
its  nature  nowise  connected  with  or  derived  from  a  con- 
sideration of  ultimate  personal  consequences.  It  is 
another  evidence  that  the  religious  is  wholly  distinct 
from  the  moral  sentiment,  and  that  the  origin  of  ethics 
is  not  to  be  sought  in  connection  with  the  ideas  of 
divinity  and  responsibility. 

1  Egede,  Nachrichten  von  Gronland,  p.  156.  Further  on  the 
Eskimo  belief  is  given  by  Dr.  Henry  Rink,  Tales  and  Traditions 
of  the  Eskimo,  p.  32  sq. ;  Dr.  Franz  Boas,  The  Central  Eskimo,  pp. 
588,  589. 


304  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   NATIVE   PRIESTHOOD. 

Their  titles. — Practitioners  of  the  healing  art  by  supernatural 
means. — Their  power  derived  from  natural  magic  and  the  exer- 
cise of  the  clairvoyant  and  mesmeric  faculties. — Examples. — 
Epidemic  hysteria. — Their  social  position. — Their  duties  as 
religious  functionaries. — Terms  of  admission  to  the  Priesthood. 
— Inner  organization  in  various  nations. — Their  esoteric  lan- 
guages and  secret  societies. 

''THUS  picking  painfully  amid  the  ruins  of  a  race  gone 
to  wreck  centuries  ago,  thus  rejecting  much  foreign 
rubbish  and  scrutinizing  each  stone  that  lies  around, 
if  we  still  are  unable  to  rebuild  the  edifice  in  its  pristine 
symmetry  >  yet  we  can  at  least  discern  and  trace  the 
ground  plan  and  outlines  of  the  fane  it  raised  to  God. 
Before  leaving  the  field  to  the  richer  returns  of  more 
fortunate  workmen,  it  will  not  be  inappropriate  to  add 
a  sketch  of  the  ministers  of  these  religions,  the  servants 
in  this  temple. 

Shamans,  conjurers,  sorcerers,  medicine  men,  wizards, 
and  many  another  hard  name  have  been  given  them, 
but  I  shall  call  them  priests,  for  in  their  poor  way,  as 
well  as  any  other  priesthood,  they  set  up  to  be  the 
agents  of  the  gods,  and  the  interpreters  of  divinity. 
No  tribe  was  so  devoid  of  religious  sentiment  as  to  be 
without  them.  Their  power  was  terrible,  and  their  use 
of  it  unhesitating.  Neither  men  nor  gods,  death  nor 
life,  the  winds  nor  the  waves,  were  beyond  their  con- 
trol. 


NAMES  OF  PRIESTS.  305 

Like  Old  Men  of  the  Sea,  they  have  clung  to  the 
neck  of  their  nations,  throttling  all  attempts  at  pro- 
gress, binding  them  to  the  thraldom  of  superstition  and 
profligacy,  dragging  them  down  to  wretchedness  and 
death.  Christianity  and  civilization  meet  in  them  their 
most  determined,  most  implacable  foes. 

But  what  is  this  but  the  story  of  priestcraft  and  in- 
tolerance everywhere,  which  Old  Spain  can  repeat  as 
well  as  New  Spain,  the  white  race  as  well  as  the  red  ? 
Blind  leaders  of  the  blind,  dupers  and  duped  fall  into 
the  ditch. 

In  their  own  languages  they  are  variously  called  ;  by 
the  Algonkins  and  Dakotas,  "  those  knowing  divine 
things "  and  "  dreamers  of  the  gods "  (manitousiou, 
wakanwacipi)  ;  in  Mexico,  "  masters  or  guardians  of  the 
divine  things  "  (teopixqui,  teotecuhtli)  and  nanahualtin, 
"  those  who  know ;"  in  Cherokee,  their  title  means 
"  possessed  of  the  divine  fire  "  (atsilung  kelawhi)  ;  in 
Iroquois,  "  keepers  of  the  faith "  (honundeunf) ;  in 
Quichua,  "  the  learned  "  (amauta)  ;  in  Maya,  "  the  lis- 
teners "  (cocome)  ;  in  Eskimo,  angakok,  "  the  ancient 
ones "  (those  possessing  the  elder  knowledge) ;  in 
Apache,  diyi,  the  "wise  ones.''1 

The  popular  term  in  French  and  English  of  "medi- 
cine men  "  is  not  such  a  misnomer  as  might  be  sup- 
posed. The  noble  science  of  medicine  is  connected 
with  divinity  not  only  by  the  rudest  savage  but  the  pro- 
foundest  philosopher,  as  has  been  already  adverted  to. 
When  sickness  is  looked  upon  as  the  effect  of  the  anger 
of  a  god,  or  as  the  malicious  infliction  of  a  sorcerer,  it 

1  The  article  on  "  The  Medicine  Men  of  the  Apache,"  in  9th 
An.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnology,  by  the  late  Captain  John  G.  Bourke,  con- 
tains much  general  as  well  as  special  information  on  the  position 
and  practice  of  these  native  priests. 
20 


306  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

is  natural  to  seek  help  from  those  who  assume  to  con- 
trol the  unseen  world,  and  influence  the  fiats  of  the 
Almighty. 

The  recovery  from  disease  is  the  kindliest  exhibition 
of  divine  power.  Therefore  the  earliest  canons  of 
medicine  in  India  and  Egypt  are  attributed  to  no  less 
distinguished  authors  than  the  gods  Brahma  and 
Thoth  j1  therefore  the  earliest  practitioners  of  the  heal- 
ing art  are  universally  the  ministers  of  religion. 

But,  however  creditable  this  origin  is  to  medicine,  its 
partnership  with  theology  was  no  particular  advantage 
to  it.  These  mystical  doctors  shared  the  disrespect 
still  so  prevalent  among  ourselves  for  a  treatment  based 
on  experiment  and  reason,  and  regarded  the  adminis- 
tration of  emetics  and  purgatives,  baths  and  diuretics, 
with  a  contempt  quite  equal  to  that  of  the  disciples  of 
Hahnemann.  The  practitioners  of  the  rational  school 
formed  a  separate  class  among  the  Indians,  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  amulets,  powwows,  or  spirits.2 
They  were  of  different  name  and  standing,  and  though 
held  in  less  estimation,  such  valuable  additions  to  the 
pharmacopoeia  as  guaiacum,  cinchona,  and  ipecacuan- 
ha, were  learned  from  them. 

The  priesthood  scorned  such  ignoble  means.  Were 
they  summoned  to  a  patient,  they  drowned  his  groans 
in  a  barbarous  clangor  of  instruments  in  order  to  fright 
away  the  demon  that  possessed  him  ;  they  sucked  and 
blew  upon  the  diseased  organ ;  they  sprinkled  him  with 
water,  and  catching  it  again  threw  it  on  the  ground, 
thus  drowning  out  the  disease ;  they  rubbed  the  part 
with  their  hands,  and  exhibiting  a  bone  or  splinter 
asserted  that  they  drew  it  from  the  body,  and  that  it 

1  Haeser,  Geschichte  der  Medicin,  pp.  4,  7  (Jena,  1845). 

2  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  v.  p.  440. 


PRIESTLY  DOCTORS.  307 

had  been  the  cause  of  the  malady ;  they  manufactured 
a  little  image  to  represent  the  spirit  of  sickness,  and 
spitefully  knocked  it  to  pieces,  thus  vicariously  destroy- 
ing its  prototype ;  they  sang  doleful  and  monotonous 
chants  at  the  top  of  their  voices,  screwed  their  counte- 
nances into  hideous  grimaces,  twisted  their  bodies  into 
unheard  of  contortions,  and  by  all  accounts  did  their 
utmost  to  merit  the  honorarium  they  demanded  for 
their  services.1 

A  double  motive  spurred  them  to  spare  no  pains. 
For  if  they  failed,  not  only  was  their  reputation  gone, 
but  the  next  expert  called  in  was  likely  enough  to  hint, 
with  that  urbanity  so  traditional  in  the  profession,  that 
the  illness  was  in  fact  caused  or  much  increased  by 
the  antagonistic  nature  of  the  remedies  previously 
employed,  whereupon  the  chances  were  that  the  doc- 
tor's life  fell  into  greater  jeopardy  than  that  of  his 
quondam  patient. 

Considering  the  probable  result  of  this  treatment, 
we  may  be  allowed  to  doubt  whether  it  redounded  on 
the  whole  very  much  to  the  honor  of  the  fraternity. 
Their  strong  points  are  rather  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
real  knowledge  gained  by  a  solitary  and  reflective  life, 
by  an  earnest  study  of  the  appearances  of  nature,  and 
of  those  hints  and  forest  signs  which  are  wholly  lost  on 
the  white  man  and  beyond  the  ordinary  insight  of  a 
native.  Travellers  often  tell  of  changes  of  the  weather 
predicted  by  them  with  astonishing  foresight,  and  of 
information  of  singular  accuracy  and  extent  gleaned 
from  most  meagre  materials. 

There  is  nothing  in  this  to  shock  our  sense  of  proba- 

1  Judge  Im  Thurn  gives  an  interesting  account  of  his  own  ex- 
perience with  such  a  physician.  Among  the  Indians  of  Guiana, 
p.  337. 


308  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

bility — much  to  elevate  our  opinion  of  the  native 
sagacity.  They  were  also  adepts  in  tricks  of  sleight  of 
hand,  and  had  no  mean  acquaintance  with  what  is 
called  natural  magic.  They  would  allow  themselves 
to  be  tied  hand  and  foot  with  knots  innumerable,  and 
at  a  sign  would  shake  them  loose  as  so  many  wisps  of 
straw;  they  would  spit  fire  and  swallow  hot  coals, 
pick  glowing  stones  from  the  flames,  walk  with  naked 
feet  over  live  ashes,  and  plunge  their  arms  to  the 
shoulder  in  kettles  of  boiling  water  with  apparent  im- 
punity.1 

Nor  was  this  all.  With  a  skill  not  inferior  to  that 
of  the  jugglers  of  India,  they  could  plunge  knives  into 
vital  parts,  vomit  blood,  or  kill  one  another  out  and 
out  to  all  appearances,  and  yet  in  a  few  minutes  be  as 
well  as  ever ;  they  could  set  fire  to  articles  of  clothing 
and  even  houses,  and  by  a  touch  of  their  magic  restore 
them  instantly  as  perfect  as  before.  Says  Father  Bau- 
tista :  "  They  can  make  a  stick  look  like  a  serpent,  a 
mat  like  a  centipede,  and  a  piece  of  stone  like  a  scor- 
pion."2 If  it  were  not  within  our  power  to  see  most 
of  these  miracles  performed  any  night  in  our  great 
cities  by  a  well  dressed  professional,  we  should  at  once 
deny  their  possibility.  As  it  is  they  astonish  us  but 
little. 

One  of  the  most  peculiar  and  characteristic  exhibi- 
tions of  their  power,  was  to  summon  a  spirit  to  answer 
inquiries  concerning  the  future  and  the  absent.  A 
great  similarity  marked  this  proceeding  in  all  northern 

1  Carver,  Travels  in  North  America,  p.  73  (Boston,  1802);  Narrative 
of  John  Tanner,  p.  135,  etc. 

2  Sahagun,   Hist,  de  la  Nueva  JEspana,  lib.  x.  cap.  20 ;  Le  Livre 
Same  des  Quiche's,  p.  177  ;  Lett,  sur  les  Superstit.  du  Perou,  pp,  89,  91 ; 
Bautista,  Advertencia  para  los  Confesores,  fol.  112  (1600). 


SUMMONING  SPIRITS.  309 

tribes  from  the  Eskimos  to  the  Mexicans.  A  circular 
or  conical  lodge  of  stout  poles  four  or  eight  in  number 
planted  firmly  in  the  ground,  was  covered  with  skins 
or  mats,  a  small  aperture  only  being  left  for  the  seer  to 
enter.  Once  in,  he  carefully  closed  the  hole  and  com- 
menced his  incantations.  Soon  the  lodge  trembles, 
the  strong  poles  shake  and  bend  as  with  the  united 
strength  of  a  dozen  men,  and  strange,  unearthly  sounds, 
now  far  aloft  in  the  air,  now  deep  in  the  ground,  anon 
approaching  near  and  nearer,  reach  the  ears  of  the 
spectators^ 

At  length  the  priest  announces  that  the  spirit  is 
present,  and  is  prepared  to  answer  questions.  An  in- 
dispensable preliminary  to  any  inquiry  is  to  insert  a 
handful  of  tobacco,  or  a  string  of  beads,  or  some  such 
douceur  under  the  skins,  ostensibly  for  the  behoof  of 
the  celestial  visitor,  who  would  seem  not  to  be  above 
earthly  wants  and  vanities.  The  replies  received, 
though  occasionally  singularly  clear  and  correct,  are 
usually  of  that  profoundly  ambiguous  purport  which 
leaves  the  anxious  inquirer  little  wiser  than  he  was 
before. 

For  all  this,  ventriloquism,  trickery,  and  shrewd 
knavery  are  sufficient  explanations.  Nor  does  it  ma- 
terially interfere  with  this  view,  that  converted  Indians, 
on  whose  veracity  we  can  implicitly  rely,  have  repeat- 
edly averred  that  in  performing  this  rite  they  them- 
selves did  not  move  the  medicine  lodge ;  for  nothing  is 
easier  than  in  the  state  of  nervous  excitement  they  were 
then  in  to  be  self-deceived,  as  the  now  familiar  phe- 
nomenon of  table-turning  illustrates. 

But  there  is  something  more  than  these  vulgar  arts 
now  and  then  to  be  perceived.  There  are  statements 
supported  by  unquestionable  testimony,  which  ought 


310  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

not  to  be  passed  over  in  silence,  and  yet  I  cannot  but 
approach  them  with  hesitation.  They  are  so  revolting 
to  the  laws  of  exact  science,  so  alien,  I  had  almost 
said,  to  the  experience  of  our  lives.  Yet  is  this  true, 
or  are  such  experiences  only  ignored  and  put  aside 
without  serious  consideration  ?  Are  there  not  in  the 
history  of  each  of  us  passages  which  strike  our  retro- 
spective thought  with  awe,  almost  with  terror  ?  Are 
there  not  in  nearly  every  community  individuals  who 
possess  a  mysterious  power,  concerning  whose  origin, 
mode  of  action,  and  limits,  we  and  they  are  alike  in 
the  dark  ? 

I  refer  to  such  organic  forces  as  are  popularly 
summed  up  under  the  words  clairvoyance,  mesmerism, 
rhabdomancy,  animal  magnetism,  physical  spiritual- 
ism. Civilized  thousands  stake  their  faith  and  hope 
here  and  hereafter,  on  the  truth  of  these  manifesta- 
tions ;  rational  medicine  recognizes  their  existence, 
and  while  she  attributes  them  to  morbid  and  excep- 
tional, influences,  confesses  her  want  of  more  exact 
knowledge,  and  refrains  from  barren  theorizing.  Let 
us  follow  her  example,  and  hold  it  enough  to  show 
that  such  powers,  whatever  they  are,  were  known  to 
the  native  priesthood  as  well  as  the  modern  spiritual- 
ists and  the  miracle  mongers  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Their  highest  development  is  what  our  ancestors 
called  "  second  sight."  That  under  certain  conditions 
knowledge  can  pass  from  one  mind  to  another  other- 
wise than  through  the  ordinary  channels  of  the  senses, 
is  shown  by  the  examples  of  persons  en  rapport.  The 
limit  to  this  we  do  not  know,  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that 
clairvoyance  or  second  sight  is  based  upon  it. 

In  his  autobiography,  the  celebrated  Sac  chief  Black 
Hawk,  relates  that  his  great  grandfather  "  was  inspired 


SECOND  SIGHT.  311 

by  a  belief  that  at  the  end  of  four  years,  he  should  see 
a  white  man,  who  would  be  to  him  a  father."  Under 
the  direction  of  this  vision  he  travelled  eastward  to  a 
certain  spot,  and  there,  as  he  was  forewarned,  met  a 
Frenchman,  through  whom  the  nation  was  brought 
into  alliance  with  France.1 

No  one  at  all  versed  in  the  Indian  character  will 
doubt  the  implicit  faith  with  which  this  legend  was 
told  and  heard.  But  we  may  be  pardoned  our  scepti- 
cism, seeing  there  are  so  many  chances  of  error.  It  is 
not  so  with  an  anecdote  related  by  Captain  Jonathan 
Carver,  a  cool-headed  English  trader,  whose  little  book 
of  travels  is  an  unquestioned  authority.  In  1767  he 
was  among  the  Killistenoes  at  a  time  when  they  were 
in  great  straits  for  food,  and  depending  upon  the  ar- 
rival of  the  traders  to  rescue  them  from  starvation. 
They  persuaded  the  chief  priest  to  consult  the  divini- 
ties as  to  when  the  relief  would  arrive.  After  the  usual 
preliminaries,  this  magnate  announced  that  the  next 
day,  precisely  when  the  sun  reached  the  zenith,  a  canoe 
would  arrive  with  further  tidings.  At  the  appointed 
hour,  the  whole  village,  together  with  the  incredulous 
Englishman,  was  on  the  beach,  and  sure  enough,  at  the 
minute  specified,  a  canoe  swung  round  a  distant  point 
of  land,  and  rapidly  approaching  the  shore  brought 
the  expected  news.7 

Charlevoix  is  nearly  as  trustworthy  a  writer  as  Carver. 
Yet  he  deliberately  relates  an  equally  singular  instance.3 

But  these  examples  are  surpassed  by  one  described 
in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  of  July,  1866,  the  author  of 
which,  the  late  Col.  John  Mason  Brown,  has  assured 

1  Life  of  Slack  Hawk,  p.  13. 

2  Travs.  in  North  America,  p.  74. 
»  Journal  Historique,  p.  362. 


312  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

me  of  its  accuracy  in  every  particular.  Some  years 
since,  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  voyageurs,  he  set  forth 
in  search  of  a  band  of  Indians  somewhere  on  the  vast 
plains  along  the  tributaries  of  the  Copper-mine  and 
Mackenzie  rivers.  Danger,  disappointment,  and  the 
fatigues  of  the  road,  induced  one  after  another  to  turn 
back,  until  of  the  original  ten  only  three  remained. 
They  also  were  on  the  point  of  giving  up  the  apparently 
hopeless  quest,  when  they  were  met  by  some  warriors 
of  the  very  band  they  were  seeking.  These  had  been 
sent  out  by  one  of  their  medicine  men  to  find  three 
whites,  whose  horses,  arms,  attire,  and  personal  appear- 
ance he  minutely  described,  which  description  was 
repeated  to  Col.  Brown  by  the  warriors  before  they  saw 
his  two  companions.  When  afterwards,  the  priest,  a 
frank  and  simple-minded  man,  was  asked  to  explain 
this  extraordinary  occurrence,  he  could  offer  no  other 
explanation  than  that  "  he  saw  them  coming,  and  heard 
them  talk  on  their  journey."1 

Many  tales  such  as  these  have  been  recorded  by 
travellers,  and  however  much  they  may  shock  our  sense 

1  Sometimes  facts  like  this  can  be  explained  by  the  quickness 
of  perception  acquired  by  constant  exposure  to  danger.  The 
mind  takes  cognizance  unconsciously  of  trifling  incidents,  the  sum 
of  which  leads  it  to  a  conviction  which  the  individual  regards 
almost  as  an  inspiration.  This  is  the  explanation  of  presentiments. 
But  this  does  not  apply  to  cases  like  that  of  Swedenborg,  who 
described  a  conflagration  going  on  at  Stockholm,  when  he  was  at 
Gottenberg,  two  hundred  miles  away.  Psychologists  who  scorn 
any  method  of  studying  the  mind  but  through  physiology,  are  at 
a  loss  in  such  cases,  and  take  refuge  in  refusing  them  credence. 
Theologians  call  them  inspirations  either  of  devils  or  angels,  as 
they  happen  to  agree  or  disagree  in  religious  views  with  the  person 
experiencing  them.  True  science  reserves  its  opinion  until  furthei 
observation  enlightens  it. 


MESMERISM.  313 

of  probability,  as  well-authenticated  exhibitions  of  a 
power  which  sways  the  Indian  mind,  and  which  has 
ever  prejudiced  it  so  unchangeably  against  Christianity 
and  civilization,  they  cannot  be  disregarded.  Whether 
they  too  are  but  specimens  of  refined  knavery,  whether 
they  are  instigations  of  the  Devil,  or  whether  they  must 
be  classed  with  other  facts  as  illustrating  certain  ob- 
scure and  curious  mental  faculties,  each  may  decide  as 
the  bent  of  his  mind  inclines  him,  for  science  makes 
no  decision. 

Those  nervous  conditions  associated  with  the  name 
of  Mesmer  were  nothing  new  to  the  Indian  magicians. 
Rubbing  and  stroking  the  sick,  and  the  laying  on  of 
hands,  were  very  common  parts  of  their  clinical  proce- 
dures, and  at  the  initiations  to  their  societies  they  were 
frequently  exhibited.  Observers  have  related  that 
among  the  Nez  Perces  of  Oregon,  the  novice  was  put  to 
sleep  by  songs,  incantations,  and  "  certain  passes  of  the 
hand,"  and  that  with  the  Dakotas  he  would  be  struck 
lightly  on  the  breast  at  a  preconcerted  moment,  and 
instantly  "  would  drop  prostrate  on  his  face,  his  muscles 
rigid  and  quivering  in  every  fibre."1 

There  is  no  occasion  to  suppose  deceit  in  this.  It 
finds  its  parallel  in  every  race  and  every  age,  and  rests 
on  a  characteristic  trait  of  certain  epochs  and  certain 
men,  which  leads  them  to  seek  the  divine,  not  in 
thoughtful  contemplation  on  the  laws  of  the  universe 
and  the  facts  of  self-consciousness,  but  in  an  entire  im- 
molation of  the  latter,  a  sinking  of  their  own  individ- 
uality in  that  of  the  spirits  whose  alliance  they  seek. 

This  is  an  outgrowth  of  that  ignoring  of  the  univer- 
sality of  Law,  which  belongs  to  the  lower  stages  of  en- 

1  Schoolcraft,  Indian  Tribes,  iii.  p.  287;  v.  p.  652. 


314  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

lightenment.1  And  as  this  is  never  done  with  impun- 
ity, but  with  certainty  brings  punishment  with  it,  the 
study  of  the  mental  conditions  thus  evoked,  and  the 
results  which  follow  them,  offer  a  salutary  subject  of 
reflection  to  the  theologian  as  well  as  the  physician. 
For  these  examples  of  nervous  pathology  are  identical 
in  kind,  and  alike  in  consequences,  whether  witnessed 
in  the  primitive  forests  of  the  New  World,  among  the 
convulsionists  of  St.  Medard,  or  in  the  excited  scenes 
of  a  religious  revival  in  one  of  our  own  churches. 

Sleeplessness  and  abstemiousness,  carried  to  the  verge 
of  human  endurance—  seclusion,  and  the  pertinacious 
fixing  of  the  mind  on  one  subject — the  swallowing  or 
inhalation  of  cerebral  intoxicants — obstinate  gloating 
on  some  morbid  fancy,  these  rarely  failed  to  bring 
about  hallucinations  with  all  the  garb  of  reality.  Phy- 
sicians are  well  aware  that  the  more  frequently  these 
diseased  conditions  of  the  mind  are  sought,  the  more 
readily  they  are  found. 

They  were  often  induced  by  intoxicating  and  nar- 
cotic herbs.  Tobacco,  the  maguey,  coca ;  in  California 
the  chucuaco ;  among  the  Mexicans  the  snake  plant, 
ololiuhqui,  and  the  peyotl;  and  among  the  southern 
tribes  of  our  own  country  the  cassine  yupon  and  iris 
versicolor,2  were  used ;  and,  it  is  even  said,  were  culti- 
vated for  this  purpose. 

1  "  The  progress  from  deepest  ignorance  to  highest  enlighten- 
ment," remarks  Herbert  Spencer  in  his  Social  Statics,  "is  a  pro- 
gress from  entire  unconsciousness  of  law,  to  the  conviction  that 
law  is  universal  and  inevitable." 

2  The  Creeks  had,  according  to  Hawkins,  not  less  than  seven 
sacred  plants ;  chief  of  them  were  the  cassine  yupon,  called  by 
botanists  Hex  vomitoria,  or  Hex  cassina,  of  the  natural  order  Aqui- 
foliacese  ;    and  the  blue  flag,  Iris  versicolor,  natural  order  Iridacese. 


TRANCE  AND  ECSTASY.  315 

The  seer  must  work  himself  up  to  a  prophetic  fury, 
or  speechless  lie  in  apparent  death  before  the  mind  of 
the  gods  would  be  opened  to  him.  Trance  and  ecstasy 
were  the  two  avenues  he  knew  to  divinity  ;  fasting  and 
seclusion  the  means  employed  to  discover  them.  His 
ideal  was  of  a  prophet  who  dwelt  far  from  men,  with- 
out need  of  food,  in  constant  communion  with  divinity. 

Such  an  one,  in  the  legends  of  the  Tupis,  resided  on 
a  mountain  glittering  with  gold  and  silver,  near  the 
river  Uaupe,  his  only  companion  a  dog,  his  only  occu- 
pation dreaming  of  the  gods.  When,  however,  an 
eclipse  was  near,  his  dog  would  bark ;  and  then,  taking 
the  form  of  a  bird,  he  would  fly  over  the  villages,  and 
learn  the  changes  that  had  taken  place.1 

But  man  cannot  trample  with  impunity  on  the  laws 
of  his  physical  life,  and  the  consequences  of  these 
deprivations  and  morbid  excitements  of  the  brain 
show  themselves  in  terrible  pictures.  Not  unfrequently 
they  were  carried  to  the  pitch  of  raving  mania,  remind- 
ing one  of  the  worst  forms  of  the  Berserker  fury  of  the 
Scandinavians,  or  the  Bacchic  rage  of  Greece. 

The  enthusiast,  maddened  with  the  fancies  of  a  dis- 
ordered intellect,  would  start  forth  from  his  seclusion 
in  an  access  of  demoniac  frenzy.  Then  woe  to  the  dog, 
the  child,  the  slave,  or  the  woman  who  crossed  his 

The  former  is  a  powerful  diuretic  and  mild  emetic,  and  grows 
only  near  the  sea.  The  latter  is  an  active  emeto-cathartic,  and  is 
abundant  on  swampy  grounds  throughout  the  Southern  States. 
From  it  was  formed  the  celebrated  "black  drink,"  with  which 
they  opened  their  councils,  and  which  served  them  in  place  of 
spirits.  On  the  various  plants  used  by  the  ancient  Mexicans  to 
produce  the  divine  delirium  see  my  Nagualism,  pp.  6-8. 
.  *  Martius,  Von  dcm  Bechtzustande  unter  den  Ureinwohnern  Brasili- 
ens,  p.  32. 


316  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

path;  for  nothing  but  blood  could  satisfy  his  inap- 
peasable  craving,  and  they  fell  instant  victims  to  his 
madness.  But  were  it  a  strong  man,  he  bared  his  arm, 
and  let  the  frenzied  hermit  bury  his  teeth  in  the  quiv- 
ering flesh.  Such  is  a  scene  to  a  recent  day  not  uncom- 
mon on  the  northwest  coast,  and  few  of  the  natives 
around  Milbank  Sound  are  without  the  scars  the  result 
of  this  horrid  custom.1 

This  frenzy,  terrible  enough  in  individuals,  had  its 
most  disastrous  effects  when  with  that  peculiar  facility 
of  contagion  which  marks  hysterical  maladies,  it  swept 
through  whole  villages,  transforming  them  into  bed- 
lams filled  with  unrestrained  madmen.  Those  who 
have  studied  the  strange  and  terrible  mental  epidemics 
that  visited  Europe  in  the  middle  ages,  such  as  the 
tarantula  dance  of  Apulia,  the  chorea  Germanorum, 
and  the  great  St.  Vitus'  dance,  will  be  prepared  to  ap- 
preciate the  nature  of  a  scene  at  a  Huron  village,  de- 
scribed by  Father  le  Jeune  in  1639. 

A  festival  of  three  days  and  three  nights  had  been  in 
progress  to  relieve  a  woman  who,  from  the  description, 
seems  to  have  been  suffering  from  some  obscure  nerv- 
ous complaint.  Toward  the  close  of  this  vigil,  which 
throughout  was  marked  by  all  sorts  of  debaucheries 
and  excesses,  all  the  participants  seemed  suddenly 
seized  by  ten  thousand  devils.  They  ran  howling  and 
shrieking  through  the  town,  breaking  everything  de- 
structible in  the  cabins,  killing  dogs,  beating  the  women 
and  children,  tearing  their  garments,  and  scattering  the 
fires  in  every  direction  with  bare  hands  and  feet.  Some 
of  them  dropped  senseless,  to  remain  long  or  perma- 
nently insane,  but  the  others  continued  until  worn  out 
with  exhaustion. 

1  Mr.  Anderson,  in  the  Am.  Hist.  Mag.,  vii.  p.  79. 


EPIDEMIC  MANIAS.  317 

The  Father  learned  that  during  these  orgies  not  un- 
frequently  whole  villages  were  consumed,  and  the  total 
extirpation  of  some  families  had  resulted.  No  wonder 
that  he  saw  in  them  the  diabolical  workings  of  the 
prince  of  evil,  but  the  physician  is  rather  inclined  to 
class  them  with  those  cases  of  epidemic  hysteria,  the 
common  products  of  violent  and  ill-directed  mental 
stimuli.1  Precisely  analogous  is  the  epidemic  madness 
which  at  times  raged  among  the  Guaranis  of  Paraguay. 
Bands  of  men  and  women  would  roam  the  country  at 
night,  seizing,  tearing  with  their  teeth,  and  sometimes 
killing  the  wayfarers  they  would  encounter.2 

These  various  considerations  prove  beyond  a  doubt 
that  the  power  of  the  priesthood  did  by  no  means  rest 
exclusively  on  deception.  They  indorse  and  explain 
the  assertions  of  converted  natives,  that  their  power  as 
prophets  was  something  real,  and  entirely  inexplicable 
to  themselves.  And  they  make  it  easily  understood 
how  those  missionaries  failed  who  attempted  to  per- 
suade them  that  all  this  boasted  power  was  false. 

More  correct  views  than  these  ought  to  have  been 

1  Such  spectacles  were    nothing    uncommon.     They    are  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  the   Jesuit  Kelations,   and  they  were  the 
chief  obstacles  to  missionary  labor.     In  the  debauches  and   ex- 
cesses that  excited  these  temporary  manias,  in  the  recklessness  of 
life  and  property  they  fostered,  and  in  their  disastrous  effects  on 
mind  and  body,  are  depicted  more  than  in  any  other  one  trait  the 
thorough  depravity  of  the  race  and  its  tendency  to  ruin.     In  the 
quaint  words  of  one  of  the  Catholic  fathers,   ' '  If  the  old  proverb 
is  true  that  every  man  has  a  grain  of  madness  in  his  composition, 
it  must  be  confessed  that  this  is  a  people  where  each  has  at  least 
half  an  ounce"  (De  Quen,  Eel.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  1656,  p.  27). 
For  the  instance  in  the  text  see  Rd.  de  la  Nouv.  France,  An.  1639, 
pp.  88-94. 

2  Antonio  Ruiz,  Conquista  Espiritual  de  Paraguay,  fol.  90. 


318  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

suggested  by  the  facts  themselves,  for  it  is  indisputable 
that  these  magicians  did  not  hesitate  at  times  to  test 
their  strength  on  each  other.  In  these  strange  duels  & 
Voutrance,  one  would  be  seated  opposite  his  antagonist, 
surrounded  with  the  mysterious  emblems  of  his  craft, 
and  call  upon  his  gods,  one  after  another,  to  strike  his 
enemy  dead.  Sometimes  one,  "gathering  his  medi- 
cine," as  it  was  termed,  feeling  within  himself  that 
hidden  force  of  will  which  makes  itself  acknowledged 
even  without  words,  would  rise  in  his  might,  and  in  a 
loud  and  severe  voice  command  his  opponent  to  die  ! 
Straightway  the  latter  would  drop  dead,  or  yielding  in 
craven  fear  to  a  superior  volition,  forsake  the  imple- 
ments of  his  art,  and  with  an  awful  terror  at  his  heart, 
creep  to  his  lodge,  refuse  all  nourishment,  and  pres- 
ently perish. 

Still  more  terrible  was  the  tyranny  they  exerted  on 
the  superstitious  minds  of  the  masses.  Let  an  Indian 
once  be  possessed  of  the  idea  that  he  is  bewitched,  and 
he  will  probably  reject  all  food,  and  sink  under  the 
phantoms  of  his  own  fancy. 

How  deep  the  superstitious  veneration  of  these  men 
has  struck  its  roots  in  the  soul  of  the  Indian,  it  is 
difficult  for  civilized  minds  to  conceive.  Their  power 
is  currently  supposed  to  be  without  any  bounds,  "  ex- 
tending to  the  raising  of  the  dead  and  the  control  of 
all  laws  of  nature."1  The  grave  offers  no  escape  from 
their  omnipotent  arms.  The  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Algonkin 
tribes,  think  that  the  soul  cannot  leave  the  corpse  until 
set  free  by  the  medicine  men  at  their  great  annual 
feast  ;8  and  the  Puelches  of  Buenos  Ayres  guard  a  pro- 

i  Schoolcraft,  Indian  Tribes,  v.  p.  423. 

»  J.  M.  Stanley,  in  the  Smithsonian  Miscellaneous  Contributions,  ii. 
p.  38. 


DIVINATION.  319 

found  silence  as  they  pass  by  the  tomb  of  some  re- 
doubted necromancer,  lest  they  should  disturb  his  re- 
pose, and  suffer  from  his  malignant  skill.1 

While  thus  investigating  their  real  and  supposed 
power  over  the  physical  and  mental  world,  their  strictly 
priestly  functions,  as  performers  of  the  rites  of  religion, 
have  not  been  touched  upon.  Among  the  ruder  tribes 
these,  indeed,  were  of  the  most  rudimentary  character. 
Sacrifices,  chiefly  in  the  form  of  feasts,  where  every  one 
crammed  to  his  utmost,  dances,  often  winding  up  with 
wild  scenes  of  licentiousness,  the  repetition  of  long  and 
monotonous  chants,  the  making  of  the  new  fire,  these 
are  the  ceremonies  that  satisfy  the  religious  wants  of 
savages. 

The  priest  finds  a  further  sphere  for  his  activity  in 
manufacturing  and  consecrating  amulets  to  keep  off 
ill  luck,2  in  interpreting  dreams,  and  especially  in  lift- 
ing the  veil  of  the  future.  In  Peru,  for  example,  they 
were  divided  into  classes,  who  made  the  various  means 
of  divination  specialties.  Some  caused  the  idols  to 
speak,  others  derived  their  foreknowledge  from  words 
spoken  by  the  dead,  others  predicted  by  leaves  of  to- 
bacco or  the  grains  and  juice  of  coca,  while  to  still 
other  classes,  the  shapes  of  grains  of  maize  taken  at 
random,  the  appearance  of  animal  excrement,  the 
forms  assumed  by  the  smoke  rising  from  burning 
victims,  the  entrails  and  viscera  of  animals,  the  course 
taken  by  a  certain  species  of  spider,  the  visions  seen  in 

1  D'Orbigny,  UHomme  Americain,  ii.  p.  81. 

2  The  amulet  is  a  sort  of  personal  fetich,  and  has  been  so  called 
(Dorsey,  Siouan  Cults,  p.  515).     Their  classes  and  origin  are  dis- 
cussed by  Frank   H.  Gushing,    Zuni  Fetiches,    p.   44,   sq.  ;  J.   G. 
Bourke,  Medicine  Men  of  the  Apaches,  p.  587 ;    John  Murdoch,   The 
Point  Barrow  Eskimo,  p.  434,  and  others. 


320  TEE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

drunkenness,  the  flights  of  birds,  and  the  direction  in 
which  fruits  would  fall,  all  offered  so  many  separate 
fields  of  prognostication,  the  professors  of  which  were 
distinguished  by  different  ranks  and  titles.1 

As  the  intellectual  force  of  the  nation  was  chiefly 
centred  in  this  class,  they  became  the  acknowledged 
depositaries  of  its  sacred  legends,  the  instructors  in  the 
art  of  preserving  thought ;  and  from  their  duty  to  regu- 
late festivals,  sprang  the  observation  of  the  motions  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  the  adjustment  of  the  calendars, 
and  the  pseudo-science  of  judicial  astrology.  The  latter 
was  carried  to  as  subtle  a  pitch  of  refinement  in  Mexico 
as  in  the  old  world  ;  and  large  portions  of  the  ancient 
writers  are  taken  up  with  explaining  the  method 
adopted  by  the  native  astrologers  to  cast  the  horoscope, 
and  reckon  the  nativity  of  the  newly-born  infant.2 

How  was  this  superior  power  obtained  ?  What  were 
the  terms  of  admission  to  this  privileged  class  ?  In  the 
ruder  communities  the  power  was  strictly  personal.  It 
was  revealed  to  its  possessor  by  the  character  of  the 
visions  he  perceived  at  the  ordeal  he  passed  through  on 
arriving  at  puberty ;  and  by  the  northern  nations  was 
said  to  be  the  manifestation  of  a  more  potent  personal 
spirit  than  ordinary.  It  was  not  a  faculty,  but  an  in- 
spiration ;  not  an  inborn  strength,  but  a  spiritual  gift. 

The  curious  theory  of  the  Dakotas,  as  recorded  by 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Pond,  was  that  the  necromant  first  wakes 
to  consciousness  as  a  winged  seed,  wafted  hither  and 
thither  by  the  intelligent  action  of  the  Four  Winds. 
In  this  form  he  visits  the  homes  of  the  different  classes 

1  See  Balboa,  Hist,  du  Perou,  pp.  28-30. 

2  See  especially  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espana,  who  devotes 
two  books  of  his  work  to  the  ancient  Mexican  astrology  and  divina- 
tion. 


DREAMING  OF  THE  GODS.  321 

of  divinities,  and  learns  the  chants,  feasts,  and  dances, 
which  it  is  proper  for  the  human  race  to  observe,  the 
art  of  omnipresence  or  clairvoyance,  the  means  of  in- 
flicting and  healing  diseases,  and  the  occult  secrets  of 
nature,  man,  and  divinity.  This  is  called  "  dreaming 
of  the  gods."  When  this  instruction  is  completed,  the 
seed  enters  one  about  to  become  a  mother,  assumes 
human  form,  and  in  due  time  manifests  its  powers. 
Four  such  incarnations  await  it,  each  of  increasing 
might,  and  then  the  spirit  returns  to  its  original 
nothingness. 

The  same  necessity  of  death  and  resurrection  was 
entertained  by  the  Eskimos.  To  become  of  the  highest 
order  of  priests,  it  was  supposed  requisite,  says  Bishop 
Egede,  that  one  of  the  lower  order  should  be  drowned 
and  eaten  by  sea  monsters.  Then,  when  his  bones,  one 
after  another,  were  all  washed  ashore,  his  spirit,  which 
meanwhile  had  been  learning  the  secrets  of  the  invis- 
ible world,  would  return  to  them,  and,  clothed  in  flesh, 
he  would  go  back  to  his  tribe. 

At  other  times  a  vague  and  indescribable  longing 
seizes  a  young  person,  a  morbid  appetite  possesses 
them,  or  they  fall  a  prey  to  an  inappeasable  and  aim- 
less restlessness,  or  a  causeless  melancholy.  These 
signs  the  old  priests  recognize  as  the  expression  of  a 
personal  spirit  of  the  higher  order.  They  take  charge 
of  the  youth,  and  educate  him  to  the  mysteries  of 
their  craft.  For  months  or  years  he  is  condemned  to 
entire  seclusion,  receiving  no  visits  but  from  the  brethren 
of  his  order.  At  length  he  is  initiated  with  ceremonies 
of  more  or  less  pomp  into  the  brotherhood,  and  from 
that  time  assumes  that  gravity  of  demeanor,  sententious 
style  of  expression,  and  general  air  of  mystery  and  im- 
portance, everywhere  deemed  so  eminently  becoming 
21 


322  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

in  a  doctor  and  a  priest.  A  peculiarity  of  the  Moxos 
was,  that  they  thought  none  designated  for  the  office 
but  such  as  had  escaped  from  the  claws  of  the  South 
American  tiger,  which,  indeed,  it  is  said  they  worshipped 
as  a  god.1 

Occasionally,  in  very  uncultivated  tribes,  some  family 
or  totem  claimed  a  monopoly  of  the  priesthood.  Thus, 
among  the  Nez  Perces  of  Oregon,  it  was  transmitted  in 
one  family  from  father  to  son  and  daughter,  but  always 
with  the  proviso  that  the  child  at  the  proper  age  re- 
ported dreams  of  a  satisfactory  character.2  Perhaps 
alone  of  the  Algonkin  tribes  the  Shawnees  confined  it 
to  one  totem,  but  it  is  remarkable  that  the  greatest  of 
their  prophets,  Elskataway,  brother  of  Tecumseh,  was 
not  a  member  of  this  clan. 

From  the  most  remote  times,  the  Cherokees  have 
had  one  family  set  apart  for  the  priestly  office.  This 
was  when  first  known  to  the  whites  that  of  the  Nico- 
tani,  but  its  members,  puffed  up  with  pride,  abused 
their  birthright  so  shamefully,  and  prostituted  it  so 
flagrantly  to  their  own  advantage,  that  with  savage 
justice  they  were  massacred  to  the  last  man.  Another 
was  appointed  in  their  place  who  to  this  day  officiates 
in  all  religious  rites.  They  have,  however,  the  super- 
stition, possibly  borrowed  from  Europeans,  that  the 
seventh  son  is  a  natural  born  prophet,  with  the  gift  of 
healing  by  touch.8 

Adair  states  that  their  former  neighbors,  the  Choc- 
taws,  permitted  the  office  of  high  priest,  or  Great  Be- 
loved Man,  to  remain  in  one  family,  passing  from 

1  D'Orbigny,  L'Homme  Americain,  ii.  p.  235. 

2  Schoolcraft,  Ind.  Tribes,  v.  p.  652. 

8  Dr.  MacGowan,  in  the  Amer.  Hist.  Mag.,  x.  p.  139 ;  Whipple, 
Rep.  on  ike  Ind.  Tribes,  p.  35. 


COLLEGE  OF  PRIESTS.  323 

father  to  eldest  son,  and  the  very  influential  piaches  of 
the  Carib  tribes  very  generally  transmitted  their  rank 
and  position  to  their  children. 

In  ancient  Anahuac  the  prelacy  was  as  systematic 
and  its  rules  as  well  defined,  as  in  the  Church  of  Rome. 
Except  those  in  the  service  of  Huitzilopochtli,  and 
perhaps  a  few  other  gods,  none  obtained  the  priestly 
office  by  right  of  descent,  but  were  dedicated  to  it  from 
early  childhood.  Their  education  was  completed  at 
the  Calmecac,  a  sort  of  ecclesiastical  college,  where  in- 
struction was  given  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients, 
and  the  esoteric  lore  of  their  craft.  The  art  of  mixing 
colors  and  tracing  designs,  the  ideographic  writing  and 
phonetic  hieroglyphs,  the  songs  and  prayers  used  in 
public  worship,  the  national  traditions  and  the  principles 
of  astrology,  the  hidden  meaning  of  symbols  and  the 
use  of  musical  instruments,  all  formed  parts  of  the 
really  extensive  course  of  instruction  they  there  re- 
ceived. 

When  they  manifested  a  satisfactory  acquaintance 
with  this  curriculum,  they  were  appointed  by  their 
superiors  to  such  positions  as  their  natural  talents  and 
the  use  they  had  made  of  them  qualified  them  for, 
some  to  instruct  children,  others  to  the  service  of  the 
temples,  and  others  again  to  take  charge  of  what  we 
may  call  country  parishes.  Implicit  subordination  of 
all  to  the  high  priest  of  Huitzilopochtli,  hereditary 
pontifex  maximus,  chastity,  or  at  least  temperate  in- 
dulgence in  pleasure,  gravity  of  carriage,  and  strict 
attention  to  duty,  were  laws  laid  upon  all. 

The  state  religion  of  Peru  was  conducted  under  the 
supervision  of  a  high  priest  of  the  Inca  family,  and  its 
ministers,  as  in  Mexico,  could  be  of  either  sex,  and  hold 
office  either  by  inheritance,  education,  or  election.  For 


324  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

political  reasons,  the  most  important  posts  were  usually 
enjoyed  by  relatives  of  the  ruler,  but  this  was  usage, 
not  law.  It  is  stated  by  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega1  that 
they  served  in  the  temples  by  turns,  each  being  on 
duty  the  fourth  of  a  lunar  month  at  a  time.  Were  this 
substantiated  it  would  offer  the  only  example  of  the 
regulation  of  public  life  by  a  week  of  seven  days  to  be 
found  in  the  New  World. 

In  the  religions  of  the  red  man,  as  above  intimated, 
sex  erected  no  barriers  to  the  admission  of  the  inspired 
into  the  arcana  of  the  divine.  In  nearly  all  tribes 
there  were  "  medicine  women  "  as  well  as  "  medicine 
men."  N"or  were  their  activities  confined  to  minister- 
ing to  the  sick.  The  most  potent  angakok  of  the  Innuit 
might  be  a  woman ;  and  among  the  Algonkins  the 
mysteries  of  the  secret  society  of  the  Mediwiwin  were 
open  to  both  sexes  alike.2 

Still  more  prominent  was  this  feature  elsewhere. 
The  one  only  member  of  the  Zufii  tribe  who  had  the 
key  to  all  the  secret  .sodalities  was  a  woman  (Gushing), 
and  in  the  far  south,  in  Chiapas,  when  the  master 
Votan  hollowed  out  of  the  rock  his  cave-temple  by 
blowing  with  his  breath,  and  in  it  stored  the  potent 
implements  of  his  magical  craft,  he  placed  in  charge 
of  the  sacred  trust,  not  a  priest  but  a  priestess.  In  the 
chronicles  of  Mexican  nagualism  it  is  recorded  that  the 
marvellous  power  of  the  adepts  in  transforming  them- 
selves into  the  brute  form  of  their  guardian  spirit  (tonal) 
was  first  taught  them  by  a  mighty  enchantress,  who 
herself  could  assume  at  will  any  one  of  four  forms.3 

1  Gomentarios  Reales,  lib.  iii.  cap.  22. 

2  W.  J.  Hoffman,  The  Midewiwin  of  the  Ojibway,  p.  159.     Cap- 
tain Bourke  says  the  same  of  the  Apaches,  u.  s.,  p.  468. 

8  Brinton,  Nagualism,  pp.  33  sqq. 


WARRIOR  WOMEN.  325 

This  explains  why  in  the  later  revolts  of  these  tribes, 
even  down  to  that  in  Guatemala  in  1885,  we  find  so 
often  that  the  moving  spirit,  the  prompter  and  leader 
of  the  rebellion,  is  som-e  warrior  woman,  driven  by  a 
divine  energy  to  seek  the  independence  of  her  tribe 
from  the  hated  yoke  of  the  whites.  Such  was  Maria 
Candelaria,  the  heroine  of  the  Tzental  insurrection  of 
1712,  a  girl  of  twenty  summers,  but  fired  by  an  elo- 
quence and  a  resolution  that  summoned  to  her  banners 
fifteen  thousand  fighting  men,  and  for  many  months 
bade  defiance  to  the  arms  of  Spain.  Nor  would  she 
then  have  failed,  had  it  not  been  for  cowardice  and 
treachery  in  her  own  camp. 

In  every  country  there  is  perceptible  a  desire  in  the 
priestly  class  to  surround  themselves  with  mystery,  and 
to  concentrate  and  increase  their  power  by  forming  an 
intimate  alliance  among  themselves.  They  affected 
singularity  in  dress  and  a  professional  costume. 

Bartram  describes  the  junior  priests  of  the  Creeks  as 
dressed  in  white  robes  and  carrying  on  their  head 
or  arm  "  a  great  owlskin,  stuffed  very  ingeniously, 
as  an  insignia  of  wisdom  and  divination.  These 
bachelors  are  also  distinguishable  from  the  other 
people  by  their  taciturnity,  grave  and  solemn  coun- 
tenance, dignified  step,  and  singing  to  themselves 
songs  or  hymns,  in  a  low  sweet  voice,  as  they  stroll 
about  the  towns."1  The  priests  of  the  civilized  nations 
adopted  various  modes  of  dress  to  typify  the  divinity 
which  they  served,  and  their  appearance  was  often  in 
the  highest  degree  unprepossessing. 

To  add  to  their  self-importance  they  pretended  to 
converse  in  a  tongue  different  from  that  used  in  ordi- 
nary life,  and  the  chants  containing  the  prayers  and 

1  Travels  in  the  Carolinas,  p.  504. 


326  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

legends  were  often  in  this  esoteric  dialect.  Fragments 
of  one  or  two  of  these  have  floated  down  to  us  from 
the  Aztec  priesthood.  The  travellers  Balboa  and 
Coreal  mention  that  the  temple  services  of  Peru  were 
conducted  in  a  language  not  understood  by  the 
masses,1  and  the  incantations  of  the  priests  of  Powhatan 
were  not  in  ordinary  Algonkin,  but  some  obscure  jar- 
gon.4 

The  same  peculiarity  has  been  observed  among  the 
Dakotas  and  Eskimos,  and  in  these  nations,  fortu- 
nately, it  fell  under  the  notice  of  competent  linguistic 
scholars,  who  have  submitted  it  to  a  searching  exami- 
nation. The  results  of  their  labors  prove  that  in  these 
two  instances  the  supposed  foreign  tongues  were  nothing 
more  than  the  ordinary  dialects  of  the  country  modi- 
fied by  an  affected  accentuation,  by  the  introduction  of 
a  few  cabalistic  terms,  and  by  the  use  of  descriptive 
circumlocutions  and  figurative  words  in  place  of  ordi- 

1  Hist,  du  Perou,  p.  128 ;  Voiages  aux  Indes  Occidentales,  ii. 
p.  97. 

*  Beverly,  Hist,  de  la  Virginie,  p.  266.  The  dialect  lie  specifies 
is  "celle  d'Occaniches,"  and  on  page  252  he  says,  "On  dit  que 
la  langue  universelle  des  Indiens  de  ces  Quartiers  est  celle  des 
Occaniches,  quoiqu'ils  ne  soient  qu'une  petite  Nation,  depuis  .que 
les  Anglois  connoissent  ce  Pais  ;  mais  je  ne  sais  pas  la  difference 
qui'l  y  a  entre  cette  langue  et  celle  des  Algonkins."  (French 
trans.,  Orleans,  1707.)  This  is  undoubtedly  the  same  people  that 
Johannes  Lederer,  a  German  traveller,  visited  in  1670,  and  calls 
Akenatzi.  They  dwelt  on  an  island,  in  a  branch  of  the  Chowan 
Kiver,  the  Sapona,  or  Deep  Eiver  (Lederer' s  Discovery  of  North 
America,  in  Harris,  Voyages,  p.  20).  Thirty  years  later  the 
English  surveyor,  Lawson,  found  them  in  the  same  spot,  and 
speaks  of  them  as  the  Acanechos  (see  Am.  Hist.  Mag.,  i.  p.  163). 
Their  totem  was  that  of  the  serpent.  Mr.  James  Mooney  iden- 
tifies them  with  the  Occaneechi,  a  tribe  of  Siouan  affinities. 
Siouan  Tribes  of  the  East,  p.  29. 


SECRET  LANGUAGE.  327 

nary  expressions,  a  slang,  in  short,  such  as  rascals  and 
pedants  invariably  coin  whenever  they  associate.1 

Numerous  other  examples  have  been  added  of  recent 
years  to  these.  The  secret  or  sacred  language  of  the 
Guaymis,  the  Chahtas,  the  Cherokees,  the  Zunis,  have 
been  learned  and  analyzed  by  competent  scholars. 
They  all  prove,  as  we  might  expect,  to  be  modifications 
of  the  ordinary  speech.  Sometimes  they  contain  words 
unknown  in  the  idiom  of  daily  life ;  and  these  we  may 
regard  as  archaisms,  or  as  borrowed  from  other  stocks 
along  with  the  ceremonies  or  myths  to  which  they  have 
reference. 

Frequently  they  are  metaphorical  in  a  high  degree, 
the  most  striking  example  of  which  is  that  of  the 
Mexican  Nagualists,  curious  specimens  of  which  were 
collected  by  Father  de  la  Serna  about  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  the  sacred  formulas  of  the 
Cherokees  which  have  been  published  by  Mr.  James 
Mooney.  There  is  much  analogy  in  the  modes  of 
thought  and  the  figurative  expressions  which  are  pre- 
sented.2 

All  these  stratagems  were  intended  to  shroud  with 
impenetrable  secrecy  the  mysteries  of  the  brotherhood. 
With  the  same  motive,  the  priests  formed  societies  of 
different  grades  of  illumination,  only  to  be  entered  by 
those  willing  to  undergo  trying  ordeals,  whose  secrets 
were  not  to  be  revealed  under  the  severest  penalties. 
The  Algonkins  had  three  such  grades,  the  wabeno,  the 

1  Eiggs,  Gram,  and  Diet,  of  the  Dakota,  p.  ix.;  Kane,  Second 
Grinndl  Expedition,  ii.  p.  127.  Paul  Egede  gives  a  number  of 
words  and  expressions  in  the  dialect  of  the  sorcerers,  Nachrichten 
von  Gronland,  p.  122. 

1  Jacinto  de  la  Serna,  Manual  de  Ministros ;  James  Mooney,  Sa- 
cred Formulas  of  the  Cherokees,  Brinton,  Nagualism,  etc. 


328  THE  NATIVE  PRIESTHOOD. 

mide,  and  the  jossakeed,  the  last  being  the  highest.  To 
this  no  white  man  was  ever  admitted.1 

All  tribes  appear  to  have  been  controlled  by  these 
secret  societies.  Alexander  von  Humboldt  mentions 
one,  called  that  of  the  Botuto  or  Holy  Trumpet,  among 
the  Indians  of  the  Orinoko,  whose  members  must  vow 
celibacy  and  submit  to  severe  scourgings  and  fasts.  The 
Collahuayas  of  Peru  were  a  guild  of  itinerant  quacks 
and  magicians,  who  never  remained  permanently  in 
one  spot. 

Withal,  there  was  no  class  of  persons  who  so  widely 
and  deeply  influenced  the  culture  and  shaped  the  des- 
tiny of  the  Indian  tribes  as  their  priests.  In  attempt- 
ing to  gain  a  true  conception  of  the  race's  capacities  and 
history,  there  is  no  one  element  of  their  social  life 
which  demands  closer  attention  than  the  power  of 
these  teachers.  Hitherto,  they  have  been  spoken  of 
with  a  contempt  which  I  hope  this  chapter  shows  is 
unjustifiable.  However  much  we  may  deplore  the  use 
they  made  of  their  skill,  we  must  estimate  it  fairly, 
and  grant  it  its  due  weight  in  measuring  the  influence 
of  the  religious  sentiment  on  the  history  of  man. 

1  A  full  description  of  these  important  bodies,  as  they  are  to- 
day, is  given  by  Dr.  W.  J.  Hoffman,  in  his  essay  "The  Midewiwin 
of  the  Ojibwa,"  in.  1th  An.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnology. 


NATIVE  RELIGIONS.  329 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF   THE  NATIVE  RELIGIONS  ON  THE  MORAL 
AND   SOCIAL   LIFE   OF  THE   RACE. 

Natural  religions  hitherto  considered  of  Evil  rather  than  of  Good. 
— Distinctions  to  be  drawn. — Morality  not  derived  from  religion. 
— The  positive  side  of  natural  religions  in  incarnations  of 
divinity. — Examples. — Prayers  as  indices  of  religious  progress. 
— Keligion  and  social  advancement. — Conclusion. 

~T\ RAWING  toward  the  conclusion  of  my  essay,  I  am 
**  sensible  that  the  vast  field  of  American  mythology 
remains  for  the  most  part  untouched — that  I  have  but 
proved  that  it  is  not  an  absolute  wilderness,  pathless 
as  the  tropical  jungles  which  now  conceal  the  temples 
of  the  race  ;  but  that,  go  where  we  will,  certain  land- 
marks and  guide-posts  are  visible,  revealing  uniformity 
of  design  and  purpose,  and  refuting,  by  their  presence, 
the  oft-repeated  charge  of  entire  incoherence  and  aim- 
lessness. 

It  remains  to  examine  the  subjective  power  of  the 
native  religions,  their  influence  on  those  who  held 
them,  and  the  place  they  deserve  in  the  history  of  the 
race.  What  are  their  merits,  if  merits  they  have  ?  what 
their  demerits  ?  Did  they  purify  the  life  and  enlighten 
the  mind,  or  the  contrary  ?  Are  they  in  short  of  evil 
or  of  good  ? 

The  problem  is  complex — its  solution  most  difficult. 
An  author  who  some  years  ago  studied  profoundly  the 
savage  races  of  the  globe,  expressed  the  discouraging 


330  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION. 

conviction :  "  Their  religions  have  not  acted  as  levers 
to  raise  them  to  civilization ;  they  have  rather  worked, 
and  that  powerfully,  to  impede  every  step  in  advance, 
in  the  first  place  by  ascribing  everything  unintelligible 
in  nature  to  spiritual  agency,  and  then  by  making  the 
fate  of  man  dependent  on  mysterious  and  capricious 
forces,  not  on  his  own  skill  and  foresight."1 

It  would  ill  accord  with  the  theory  of  mythology 
which  I  have  all  along  maintained  if  this  verdict  were 
final.  But  in  fact  these  false  doctrines  brought  with 
them  their  own  antidotes,  at  least  to  some  extent,  and 
while  we  give  full  weight  to  their  evil,  let  us  also 
acknowledge  their  good.  By  substituting  direct  divine 
interference  for  law,  belief  for  knowledge,  a  dogma  for 
a  fact,  the  highest  stimulus  to  mental  endeavor  was 
taken  away. 

Nature,  to  the  heathen,  is  no  harmonious  whole 
swayed  by  eternal  principles,  but  a  chaos  of  causeless 
effects,  the  meaningless  play  of  capricious  ghosts.  He 
investigates  not,  because  he  doubts  not.  All  events  are 
to  him  miracles.  Therefore  his  faith  knows  no  bounds, 
and  those  who  teach  that  doubt  is  sinful  must  contem- 
plate him  with  admiration. 

The  damsels  of  Nicaragua  destined  to  be  thrown  into 
the  seething  craters  of  volcanoes,  went  to  their  fate, 
says  Pascual  de  Andagoya,  "  happy  as  if  they  were 
going  to  be  saved,'  '2  and  doubtless  believing  so.  The 
subjects  of  a  Central  American  chieftain,  remarks 
Oviedo,  "  look  upon  it  as  the  crown  of  favors  to  be  per- 
mitted to  die  with  their  cacique,  and  thus  to  acquire 
immortality."3  The  terrible  power  exerted  by  the  priests 

1  Waitz,  Anthropologie  der  Naturvoelker,  i.  p.  459. 

2  Navarrete,   Viages,  iii.  p.  415. 

3  Relation  de  Cueba,  p.  140.     Ed.  Ternaux-Compans. 


RELIGIOUS  TOLERATION.  331 

rested,  as  they  themselves  often  saw,  largely  on  the  im- 
plicit acceptance  of  their  dicta. 

In  some  respects  the  contrast  here  offered  to  en- 
lightened nations  is  not  always  in  favor  of  the  latter. 
Borrowing  the  pointed  antithesis  of  the  poet,  the  mind 
is  often  tempted  to  exclaim— 

"  This  is  all 

The  gain  we  reap  from  all  the  wisdom  sown 
Through  ages  :    Nothing  doubted  those  first  sons 
Of  Time,  while  we,  the  schooled  of  centuries, 
Nothing  believe."—  Lytton. 

But  the  complaint  is  unfounded.  Faith  is  dearly 
bought  at  the  cost  of  knowledge  ;  nor  in  a  better  sense 
has  it  yet  gone  from  among  us.  Far  more  sublime 
than  any  known  to  the  barbarian  is  the  faith  of  the 
astronomer,  who  spends  the  nights  in  marking  the 
seemingly  wayward  motions  of  the  stars,  or  of  the  an- 
atomist, who  studies  with  unwearied  zeal  the  minute 
fibres  of  the  organism,  each  upheld  by  the  unshaken 
conviction  that  from  least  to  greatest  throughout  this 
universe,  purpose  and  order  everywhere  prevail. 

Natural  religions  rarely  offer  more  than  this  nega- 
tive opposition  to  reason.  They  are  tolerant  to  a  de- 
gree. The  savage,  void  of  any  clear  conception  of  a 
supreme  deity,  sets  up  no  claim  that  his  is  the  only 
true  church.  If  he  is  conquered  in  battle,  he  imagines 
that  it  is  owing  to  the  inferiority  of  his  own  gods  to 
those  of  his  victor,  and  he  rarely  therefore  requires  any 
other  reasons  to  make  him  a  convert. 

Acting  on  this  principle,  the  Incas,  when  they  over- 
came a  strange  province,  sent  its  most  venerated 
idol  for  a  time  to  the  temple  of  the  Sun  at  Cuzco, 
thus  proving  its  inferiority  to  their  own  divinity,  but 


332  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION. 

took  no  more  violent  steps  to  propagate  their  creeds.1 
So  in  the  city  of  Mexico  there  was  a  temple  appropri- 
ated to  the  idols  of  conquered  nations  in  which  they 
were  shut  up,  both  to  prove  their  weakness  and  prevent 
them  from  doing  mischief. 

A  nation,  like  an  individual,  was  not  inclined  to  pa- 
tronize a  deity  who  had  manifested  his  incompetence 
hy  allowing  his  charge  to  be  gradually  worn  away  by 
constant  disaster.  As  far  as  can  now  be  seen,  in  matters 
intellectual,  the  religions  of  ancient  Mexico  and  Peru 
were  far  more  liberal  than  that  introduced  by  the 
Spanish  conquerors,  which,  claiming  the  monopoly  of 
truth,  sought  to  enforce  its  claim  by  inquisitions  and 
censorships. 

In  this  view  of  the  relative  powers  of  deities  lay  a 
potent  corrective  to  the  doctrine  that  the  fate  of  man 
was  dependent  on  the  caprices  of  the  gods.  For  no 
belief  was  more  universal  than  that  which  assigned 
to  each  individual  a  guardian  spirit.  This  invisible 
monitor  was  an  ever  present  help  in  trouble.  He  sug- 
gested expedients,  gave  advice  and  warning  in  dreams, 
protected  in  danger,  and  stood  ready  to  foil  the  machi- 
nations of  enemies,  divine  or  human. 

With  unlimited  faith  in  this  protector,  attributing  to 
him  the  devices  suggested  by  his  own  quick  wits  and 
the  fortunate  chances  of  life,  the  savage  escaped  the 
oppressive  thought  that  he  was  the  slave  of  demoniac 
forces,  and  dared  the  dangers  of  the  forest  and  the 
war  path  without  anxiety. 

By  far  the  darkest  side  of  such  a  religion  is  that 
which  it  presents  to  morality.  The  religious  sense  is 
by  no  means  the  voice  of  conscience.  The  Takahli 

1  La  Vega,  Commentarios  Itecdes,  liv.  v.  cap.  12. 


MISTAKEN  ETHICS.  338 

Indian  when  sick  makes  a  full  and  free  confession  of 
sins,  but  a  murder,  however  unnatural  and  unpro- 
voked, he  does  not  mention,  not  counting  it  a  crime.1 
Scenes  of  licentiousness  were  approved  and  sustained 
throughout  the  continent  as  acts  of  worship  ;  maiden- 
hood was  in  many  parts  freely  offered  up  or  claimed 
by  the  priests  as  a  right ;  in  central  America  twins 
were  slain  for  religious  motives ;  human  sacrifice  was 
common  throughout  the  tropics,  and  was  not  unusual 
in  higher  latitudes;  cannibalism  was  often  enjoined; 
and  in  Peru,  Florida,  and  Central  America  it  was  not 
uncommon  for  parents  to  slay  their  own  children  at  the 
behest  of  a  priest.2 

The  philosophical  moralist,  contemplating  such  spec- 
tacles, has  thought  to  recognize  in  them  one  consoling 
trait.  All  history,  it  has  been  said,  shows  man  living 
under  an  irritated  God,  and  seeking  to  appease  him  by 
sacrifice  of  blood ;  the  essence  of  all  religion,  it  has 
been  added,  lies  in  that  of  which  sacrifice  is  the  symbol, 
namely,  in  the  offering  up  of  self,  in  the  rendering  up 
of  our  will  to  the  will  of  God.3 

1  Morse,  Eep.  on  the  Ind.  Tribes,  App.  p.  345. 

2  Ximenes,    Origen  de  los  Indies  de  Guatemala,  p.  192  ;  Acosta, 
Hist,  of  the  New  World,  lib.  v.,  chap.  18. 

3  Joseph   de   Maistre,   Eclaircissement  sur  les  Sacrifices;  Trench, 
Hulsean  Lectures,  p.  180.     The  famed  Abb£  Lammennais  and  Pro- 
fessor Sepp,  of  Munich,  with  these  two  writers,  may  be  taken  as 
the  chief  exponents  of  a  school  of  mythologists,  all  of  whom  start 
from  the  theories  first  laid  down  by  Count  de  Maistre  in  his  Soirees 
de  St.  Petersbourg.    To  them  the  strongest  proof   of  Christianity 
lies  in  the  traditions  and  observances  of  heathendom.     For  these 
show  the  wants  of    the   religious  sense,  and   Christianity,  they 
maintain,  purifies  and  satisfies  them  all.     The  rites,  symbols,  and 
legends  of  every  natural  religion,  they  say,  are  true  and  not  false  ; 
all  that  is  required  is  to  assign  them  their  proper  places  and  their 


334  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EELIGION. 

But  sacrifice,  when  not  a  token  of  gratitude,  cannot 
be  thus  explained.  It  is  not  a  rendering  up,  but  a  sub- 
stitution of  our  will  for  God's  will.  A  deity  is  angered 
by  neglect  of  his  dues ;  he  will  revenge,  certainly,  ter- 
ribly, we  know  not  how  or  when.  But  as  punishment 
is  all  he  desires,  if  we  punish  ourselves  he  will  be  satis- 
fied ;  and  far  better  is  such  self-inflicted  torture  than  a 
fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  to  come.  Craven  fear, 
not  without  some  dim  sense  of  the  implacability  of 
nature's  laws,  is  at  its  root. 

Looking  only  at  this  side  of  religion,  the  ancient 
philosopher  averred  that  the  gods  existed  solely  in  the 
apprehensions  of  their  votaries,  and  the  moderns  have 
asserted  that  "  fear  is  the  father  of  religion,  love  her 
late-born  daughter  ;3>1  that  "  the  first  form  of  religious 
belief  is  nothing  else  but  a  horror  of  the  unknown," 
and  that  "  no  natural  religion  appears  to  have  been 
able  to  develop  from  a  germ  within  itself  anything 
whatever  of  real  advantage  to  civilization."2 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  excuse  the  enormities  thus  com- 
mitted under  the  garb  of  religion,  or  to  ignore  their 
disastrous  consequences  on  human  progress.  Yet  this 
question  is  a  fair  one — If  the  natural  religious  belief 
has  in  it  no  germ  of  anything  better,  whence  comes  the 
manifest  and  undeniable  improvement  occasionally 

real  meaning.  Therefore  the  strange  resemblances  in  heathen 
myths  to  what  is  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  as  well  as  the  ethical 
anticipations  which  have  been  found  in  ancient  philosophies,  all, 
so  far  from  proving  that  Christianity  is  a  natural  product  of  the 
human  mind,  in  fact,  are  confirmations  of  it,  unconscious  prophe- 
cies, and  presentiments  of  the  truth. 

1  Alfred  Maury,  La  Magie  et  I'Astrologie  dans  PAntiquit£  et  au 
Moyen  Aye,  p.  8. 

2  Waitz,  Anthropologie,  i.  pp.  326,  465. 


THE  HERO-GODS.  335 

witnessed — as,  for  example,  among  the  Aztecs,  the 
Peruvians,  and  the  Mayas  ? 

The  reply  is,  by  the  influence  of  great  men,  who  cul- 
tivated within  themselves  a  purer  faith,  lived  it  in  their 
lives,  preached  it  successfully  to  their  fellows,  and,  at 
their  death,  still  survived  in  the  memory  of  their  na- 
tion, unforgotten  models  of  noble  qualities.1 

Where,  in  America,  is  any  record  of  such  men  ?  "We 
are  pointed,  in  answer,  to  Quetzalcoatl,  Viracocha, 
Itzamna,  and  their  congeners.  But  these  august  figures 
I  have  shown  to  be  wholly  mythical,  creations  of  the 
religious  fancy,  parts  and  parcels  of  the  earliest  religion 
itself.  The  entire  theory  falls  to  nothing,  therefore, 
and  we  discover  a  positive  side  to  natural  religions — 
one  that  conceals  a  germ  of  endless  progress,  which 
vindicates  their  lofty  origin,  and  proves  that  He  "  is 
not  far  from  every  one  of  us." 

I  have  already  analyzed  these  figures  under  their 
physical  aspect.  Let  it  be  observed  in  what  antithesis 
they  stand  to  most  other  mythological  creations.  Let 
it  be  remembered  that  they  primarily  correspond  to 
the  stable,  the  regular,  the  cosmical  phenomena,  that 
they  are  always  conceived  under  human  form,  not  as 
giants,  fairies,  or  strange  beasts ;  that  they  were  said  at 
one  time  to  have  been  visible  leaders  of  their  nations, 
that  they  did  not  suffer  death,  and  that,  though  absent, 
they  are  ever  present,  favoring  those  who  remain  mind- 
ful of  their  precepts. 

I  touched  but  incidentally  on  their  moral  aspects. 
This  was  likewise  in  contrast  to  the  majority  of  inferior 
deities.  The  worship  of  the  latter  was  a  tribute  ex- 
torted by  fear.  The  Indian  deposits  tobacco  on  the 

1  So  says  Dr.  Waitz,  ibid.  p.  465,  and  various  later  Euhemerists. 


336  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION. 

rocks  of  a  rapid,  that  the  spirit  of  the  swift  waters  may 
not  swallow  his  canoe ;  in  a  storm  he  throws  overboard 
a  dog  to  appease  the  siren  of  the  angry  waves.  He 
used  to  tear  the  hearts  from  his  captives  to  gain  the 
favor  of  the  god  of  war.  He  provides  himself  with 
talismans  to  bind  hostile  deities.  He  fees  the  conjurer 
to  exorcise  the  demon  of  disease.  He  loves  none  of 
them,  he  respects  none  of  them ;  he  only  fears  their 
wayward  tempers.  They  are  to  him  mysterious,  invisi- 
ble, capricious  goblins. 

But  in  his  highest  divinity,  he  recognized  a  Father 
and  a  Preserver,  a  benign  Intelligence,  who  provided 
for  him  the  comforts  of  life — man,  like  himself,  yet  a 
god — God  of  All.  ''  Go  and  do  good,"  was  the  part- 
ing injunction  of  his  father  to  Michabo  in  Algonkin 
legend  ;*  and  in  their  ancient  and  uncorrupted  stories 
such  is  ever  his  object.  "  The  worship  of  Tamu,"  the 
culture  hero  of  the  Guaranis,  says  the  traveller  D'Or- 
bigny,  "  is  one  of  reverence,  not  of  fear."2  They  were 
ideals,  summing  up  in  themselves  the  best  traits,  the 
most  approved  virtues  of  whole  nations,  and  were 
adored  in  a  very  different  spirit  from  other  divinities. 

None  of  them  has  more  humane  and  elevated  traits 
than  Quetzalcoatl.  He  was  represented  of  majestic 
stature  and  dignified  demeanor.  In  his  train  came 
skilled  artificers  and  men  of  learning.  He  was  chaste 
and  temperate  in  life,  wise  in  council,  generous  of 
gifts,  conquering  rather  by  arts  of  peace  than  of  war  ; 
delighting  in  music,  flowers,  and  brilliant  colors,  and 
so  averse  to  human  sacrifices  that  he  shut  his  ears  with 
both  hands  when  they  were  even  mentioned.8 

1  Schoolcraft,  Algic  Researches,  i.  p.  143. 

3  L'Homme  Americain,  ii.  p.  319. 

s  Brasseur,  Hist,  du  Mexique,  liv.  iii.  chaps.  1  and  2. 


TEE  IDEAL  MAN.  337 

Such  was  the  ideal  man  and  supreme  god  of  a  people 
who  even  a  Spanish  monk  of  the  sixteenth  century  felt 
constrained  to  confess  were  "  a  good  people,  attached  to 
virtue,  urbane  and  simple  in  social  intercourse,  shun- 
ning lies,  skilful  in  arts,  pious  toward  their  gods."1  Is 
it  likely,  is  it  possible,  that  with  such  a  model  as  this 
before  their  minds,  they  received  no  benefit  from  it? 
Was  not  this  a  lever,  and  a  mighty  one,  lifting  the  race 
toward  civilization  and  a  purer  faith  ? 

Transfer  the  field  of  observation  to  Yucatan,  and  we 
find  in  Itzamna,  to  New  Granada  and  in  Nemqueteba, 
to  Peru  and  in  Viracocha,  or  his  reflex  Tonapa,  the 
lineaments  of  Quetzalcoatl — modified,  indeed,  by  dif- 
ference of  blood  and  temperament,  but  each  combining 
in  himself  all  the  qualities  most  esteemed  by  their 
several  nations. 

They  are  credited  with  an  ethical  elevation  in  their 
teachings  which  needs  not  blush  before  the  loftiest  pre- 
cepts of  Old  World  moralists.  According  to  the  earliest 
and  most  trustworthy  accounts,  the  doctrines  of  Tonapa 
were  filled  with  the  loving  kindness  and  the  deep  sense 
of  duty  which  characterized  the  purest  Christianity. 
"  Nothing  was  wanting  in  them,"  says  a  historian, 
"  save  the  name  of  God  and  that  of  his  son,  Jesus 
Christ."2 

In  the  numerous  ancient  formulas  or  hiiehuetlatolli, 
collected  by  the  first  missionaries  to  Mexico,  we  per- 
ceive a  constant  tendency  toward  inculcating  purity  of 
life,  kindness  to  companions,  and  control  of  the  appe- 
tites, which  would  not  be  out  of  place  in  the  most 
civilized  communities.3 

1  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nuem  Espana,  lib.  vi.  cap.  29. 

2  Pachacuti  in  Tres  Rdariones  Peruanas,  p.  237. 

8  For  these  valuable  documents  see  Sahagun,  Historia,  Lib.  vi., 
22 


338  THE  INFL  UENCE  OF  RELIGION. 

The  Iroquois  sage,  Hiawatha,  probably  an  historical 
character,  made  it  the  noble  aim  of  his  influence  and 
instruction  to  abolish  war  altogether  and  establish  the 
reign  of  universal  peace  and  brotherhood  among  men.' 

Were  one  or  all  of  these  proved  to  be  historial  per, 
sonages,  still  the  fact  remains  that  the  primitive  reli- 
gious sentiment,  investing  them  with  the  best  attributes 
of  humanity,  dwelling  on  them  as  its  models,  worship- 
ping them  as  gods,  contained  a  kernel  of  truth  potent 
to  encourage  moral  excellence.  But  if  they  were 
mythical,  then  this  truth  was  of  spontaneous  growth, 
self-developed  by  the  growing  distinctness  of  the  idea 
of  God,  a  living  witness  that  the  religious  sense,  like 
every  other  faculty,  has  within  itself  a  power  of  endless 
evolution. 

If  we  inquire  the  secret  of  the  happier  influence  of 
this  element  in  natural  worship,  it  is  all  contained  in 
one  word — its  humanity.  "  The  Ideal  of  Morality,"  says 
the  contemplative  Novalis,  "  has  no  more  dangerous 
rival  than  the  Ideal  of  the  Greatest  Strength,  of  the 
most  vigorous  life,  the  Brute  Ideal  (das  Thier- Ideal). m 
Culture  advances  in  proportion  as  man  recognizes  what 
faculties  are  peculiar  to  him  as  man,  and  devotes  him- 
self to  their  education. 

The  moral  value  of  religions  can  be  very  precisely 
estimated  by  the  human  or  the  brutal  character  of  their 
gods.  The  worship  of  Quetzalcoatl  in  the  city  of  Mexico 
was  subordinate  to  that  of  lower  conceptions,  and  con- 
sequently the  more  sanguinary  and  immoral  were  the 

who  assures  his  readers  that  they  are  genuine  ;  Olmos,  Gram,  de  la 
Langue  Nahuatl,  p.  231  sq. ;  Juan  de  Bautista,  Huehuetlatolli,  a 
scarce  work  published  in  Mexico  in  1599. 

1  Hale,  The  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites,  Introduction. 

a  Novalis,  Schriften,  i.  p.  244  (Berlin,  1837). 


PRAYER.  339 

rites  there  practised.  The  Algonkins,  who  knew  no 
other  meaning  for  Michabo  than  the  Great  Hare,  had 
lost,  by  a  false  etymology,  the  best  part  of  their 
religion. 

Looking  around  for  other  standards  wherewith  to 
measure  the  progress  of  the  knowledge  of  divinity  in 
the  New  World,  prayer  suggests  itself  as  one  of  the 
least  deceptive.  "  Prayer,"  to  quote  again  the  words 
of  Novalis,1  "  is  in  religion  what  thought  is  in  philoso- 
phy. The  religious  sense  prays,  as  the  reason  thinks." 
Guizot,  carrying  the  analysis  farther,  thinks  that  it 
is  prompted  by  a  painful  conviction  of  the  inability  of 
our  will  to  conform  to  the  dictates  of  reason.2 

Originally  it  was  connected  with  the  belief  that  di- 
vine caprice,  not  divine  law,  governs  the  universe,  and 
that  material  benefits  rather  than  spiritual  gifts  are  to 
be  desired.  The  gradual  recognition  of  its  limitations 
and  proper  objects  marks  religious  advancement.  The 
Lord's  Prayer  contains  seven  petitions,  only  one  of 
which  is  for  a  temporal  advantage,  and  it  the  least  that 
can  be  asked  for. 

What  immeasurable  interval  between  it  and  the 
prayer  of  the  Nootka  Indian  on  preparing  for  war ! — 

"  Great  Quahootze,  let  me  live,  not  be  sick,  find  the 
enemy,  not  fear  him,  find  him  asleep,  and  kill  a  great 
many  of  him."3 

Or  again,  between  it  and  a  petition  of  a  Huron  to  a 
local  god,  heard  by  Father  Brebeuf : — 

"  Oki,  thou  who  livest  in  this  spot,  I  offer  thee  to- 
bacco. Help  us,  save  us  from  shipwreck,  defend  us 

1  Ibid.,  p.  267. 

2  Hist,  de  la  Civilisation  en  France,  i.  pp.  122,  130. 

3  Narrative  of  J.  R.  Jewett  among  the  Savages  of  Nootka  Sound,  p. 
121. 


340  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION. 

from  our  enemies,  give  us  a  good  trade  and  bring  us 
back  safe  and  sound  to  our  villages."1 

This  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  supplications  of  the 
lowest  religions.  Another  equally  authentic  is  given 
by  Father  Allouez.2  In  1670  he  penetrated  to  an  out- 
lying Algonkin  village,  never  before  visited  by  a  white 
man.  The  inhabitants,  startled  by  his  pale  face  and 
long  black  gown,  took  him  for  a  divinity.  They  in- 
vited him  to  the  council  lodge,  a  circle  of  old  men 
gathered  around  him,  and  one  of  them,  approaching 
him  with  a  double  handful  of  tobacco,  thus  addressed 
him,  the  others  grunting  approval : — 

tl  This,  indeed,  is  well,  Blackrobe,  that  thou  dost  visit 
us.  Have  mercy  upon  us.  Thou  art  a  Manito.  We 
give  thee  to  smoke. 

"  The  Naudowessies  and  Iroquois  are  devouring  us. 
Have  mercy  upon  us. 

"  We  are  often  sick ;  our  children  die  ;  we  are  hun- 
gry. Have  mercy  upon  us.  Hear  me,  0  Manito,  I 
give  thee  to  smoke. 

"  Let  the  earth  yield  us  corn ;  the  rivers  give  us  fish ; 
sickness  not  slay  us  ;  nor  hunger  so  torment  us.  Hear 
us,  O  Manito,  we  give  thee  to  smoke." 

In  this  rude  but  touching  petition,  wrung  from  the 
heart  of  a  miserable  people,  nothing  but  their  wretch- 
edness is  visible.  Not  the  faintest  trace  of  an  aspira- 
tion for  spiritual  enlightenment  cheers  the  eye  of 
the  philanthropist,  not  the  remotest  conception  that 
through  suffering  we  are  purified  can  be  detected. 

By  the  side  of  these  examples  we  may  place  the 
prayers  of  Peru  and  Mexico,  forms  composed  by  the 

1  Ed.  de  la  Nvuv.  France,  An.  1636,  p.  109. 

2  Ibid.,  An.  1670,  p.  99. 


BEA  UTY  OF  SUFFERING.  341 

priests,  written  out,  committed  to  memory,  and  re- 
peated at  certain  seasons.  They  are  not  less  authentic, 
having  been  collected  and  translated  in  the  first  gen- 
eration after  the  conquest.  One  to  Viracocha  Pacha- 
camac  was  as  follows : 

"  0  Pachacamac,  thou  who  hast  existed  from  the  be- 
ginning and  shalt  exist  unto  the  end,  powerful  and 
pitiful ;  who  createdst  man  by  saying,  let  man  be ;  who 
defendest  us  from  evil  and  preservest  our  life  and 
health  ;  art  thou  in  the  sky  or  in  the  earth,  in  the  clouds 
or  in  the  depths  ?  Hear  the  voice  of  him  who  implores 
thee,  and  grant  him  his  petitions.  Give  us  life  ever- 
lasting, preserve  us,  and  accept  this  our  sacrifice."1 

In  the  voluminous  specimens  of  Aztec  prayers  pre- 
served by  Sahagun,  moral  improvement,  the  "  spiritual 
gift/'  is  not  generally  the  object  desired,  as  it  is  not  in 
many  Christian  liturgies.  Health,  harvests,  propitious 
rains,  release  from  pain,  preservation  from  dangers, 
illness,  and  defeat,  these  are  the  almost  unvarying 
themes. 

But  here  and  there  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  something 
better,  some  sense  of  the  divine  beauty  of  suffering, 
some  glimmering  of  the  grand  truth  so  nobly  expressed 
by  the  poet : — 

aus  des  Busens  Tiefe  stromt  Gedeihn 
Der  festen  Duldung  und  entschlossner  That. 
Nicht  Schmerz  1st  Ungluck,  Gliick  nicht  immer  Freude  ; 
Wer  sein  Geschick  erf iillt,  Dem  lacheln  beide. 

"  Is  it  possible,"  says  one  of  them,  "  that  this  scourge, 

1  Geronimo  de  Ore,  Symbolo  Oatholico  Indiana,  chap.  ix.  De  Ore 
was  a  native  of  Peru  and  held  the  position  of  Professor  of  The- 
ology in  Cuzco  in  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was 
a  man  of  great  erudition,  and  there  need  be  no  hesitation  in  accept- 
ing this  extraordinary  prayer  as  genuine. 


342  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION. 

this  affliction,  is  sent  to  us  not  for  our  correction  and 
improvement,  but  for  our  destruction  and  annihila- 
tion? O  Merciful  Lord,  let  this  chastisement  with 
which  thou  hast  visited  us,  thy  people,  be  as  those 
which  a  father  or  mother  inflicts  on  their  children,  not 
out  of  anger,  but  to  the  end  that  they  may  be  free 
from  follies  and  vices." 

Another  formula,  used  when  a  chief  was  elected  to 
some  important  position,  reads :  "  0  Lord,  open  his 
eyes  and  give  him  light,  sharpen  his  ears  and  give  him 
understanding,  not  that  he  may  use  them  to  his  own 
advantage,  but  for  the  good  of  the  people  whom  he 
rules.  Lead  him  to  know  and  to  do  thy  will,  let 
him  be  as  a  trumpet  which  sounds  thy  words.  Keep 
him  from  the  commission  of  injustice  and  oppres- 
sion."1 

At  first,  good  and  evil  are  identical  with  pleasure 
and  pain,  luck  and  ill-luck.  "  The  good  are  good  war- 
riors and  hunters,"  said  a  Pawnee  chief,2  which  would 
also  be  the  opinion  of  a  wolf,  if  he  could  express  it. 
Gradually  the  eyes  of  the  mind  are  opened,  and  it  is 
perceived  that  "  whom  He  loveth,  He  chastiseth,"  and 
physical  give  place  to  moral  ideas  of  good  and  evil. 
Finally,  as  the  idea  of  God  rises  more  distinctly  before 
the  soul,  as  "  the  One  by  whom,  in  whom,  and  through 
whom  all  things  are,"  evil  is  seen  to  be  the  negation, 
not  the  opposite  of  good,  and  itself  "  a  porch  oft  open- 
ing on  the  sun." 

The  influence  of  these  religions  on  art,  science,  and 

1  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  la  Nueva  Espafia,  lib.  vi.  caps.  1,  4.     Many 
other  examples  of  prayers  might  be  quoted  from  the  works  of  de  la 
Serna,  Dr.  Washington  Matthews,  James  Mooney,  etc.,  but  those 
in  the  text  will  be  sufficient  to  illustrate  their  usual  character. 

2  Morse,  Rep.  on  the  Ind.  Tribes,  App.  p.  250. 


RELIGIOUS  GAINS.  343 

social  life,  must  also  be  weighed  in  estimating  their 
value. 

Nearly  all  the  remains  of  American  plastic  art, 
sculpture,  and  painting,  were  obviously  designed  for 
religious  or,  what  is  practically  the  same,  divinatory 
purposes.  Idols  of  stone,  wood,  or  baked  clay,  were 
found  in  every  Indian  tribe,  without  exception,  so  far 
as  I  can  judge;  and  in  only  a  few  directions  do  these 
arts  seem  to  have  been  applied  to  secular  purposes. 

The  most  ambitious  attempts  of  architecture,  it  is 
plain,  were  inspired  by  religious  fervor.  The  great 
pyramid  of  Cholula,  the  enormous  mounds  of  the 
Mississippi  valley,  the  elaborate  edifices  on  artificial 
hills  in  Yucatan,  were  miniature  representations  of  the 
mountains  hallowed  by  tradition,  the  "  Hill  of  Heaven," 
the  peak  on  which  their  ancestors  escaped  in  the  flood, 
or  that  in  the  terrestrial  paradise  from  which  flow  the 
rains.  Their  construction  took  men  away  from  war 
and  the  chase,  encouraged  agriculture,  peace,  and  a 
settled  disposition,  and  fostered  the  love  of  property, 
of  country,  and  of  the  gods. 

The  priests  were  also  close  observers  of  nature,  and 
were  the  first  to  discover  its  simpler  laws.  The  Aztec 
sages  were  as  devoted  star-gazers  as  the  Chaldeans,  and 
their  civil  calendar  bears  unmistakable  marks  of  native 
growth,  and  of  its  original  purpose  to  fix  the  annual 
festivals.  Writing  by  means  of  pictures  and  symbols 
was  cultivated  chiefly  for  religious  ends,  and  the  word 
hieroglyph  is  a  witness  that  the  phonetic  alphabet  was 
discovered  under  the  stimulus  of  the  religious  senti- 
ment. 

Most  of  the  aboriginal  literature  was  composed  and 
taught  by  the  priests,  and  most  of  it  refers  to  matters 
connected  with  their  superstitions.  As  the  gifts  of 


344  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RELIGION. 

votaries  and  the  erection  of  temples  enriched  the  sa- 
cerdotal order  individually  and  collectively,  the  terrors 
of  religion  were  lent  to  the  secular  arm  to  enforce  the 
rights  of  property.  Music,  poetic,  scenic,  and  histori- 
cal recitations  formed  parts  of  the  ceremonies  of  the 
more  civilized  nations,  and  national  unity  was  strength- 
ened by  a  common  shrine.  An  active  barter  in  amu- 
lets, lucky  stones,  and  charms  existed  all  over  the 
continent,  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  we  might 
think. 

As  experience  demonstrates  that  nothing  so  efficiently 
promotes  civilization  as  the  free  and  peaceful  inter- 
course of  man  with  man,  I  lay  particular  stress  on  the 
common  custom  of  making  pilgrimages. 

The  temple  on  the  island  of  Cozumel  in  Yucatan 
was  visited  every  year  by  such  multitudes  from  all 
parts  of  the  peninsula,  that  roads,  paved  with  cut 
stones,  had  been  constructed  from  the  neighboring 
shore  to  the  principal  cities  of  the  interior.1  Each  vil- 
lage of  the  Muyscas  is  said  to  have  had  a  beaten  path  to 
Lake  Guatavita,  so  numerous  were  the  devotees  who 
journeyed  to  the  shrine  there  located.2 

In  Peru  the  temples  of  Pachacama,  Rimac,  and  other 
famous  gods,  were  repaired  to  by  countless  numbers 
from  all  parts  of  the  realm,  and  from  other  provinces 
within  a  radius  of  three  hundred  leagues  around. 
Houses  of  entertainment  were  established  on  all  the 
principal  roads,  and  near  the  temples,  for  their  accom- 
modation ;  and  when  they  made  known  the  object  of 

1  Cogolludo,  Hist,  de    Yucathan,  lib.  iv.  cap  9.     Compare  Ste- 
phens, Travs.  in  Yvmtan,   ii.  p.  122,  who  describes  the  remains  of 
these  roads  as  they  now  exist. 

2  Eivero  and  Tschudi,  Antiqs.  of  Peru,  p.  162. 


THE  CONCLUSION.  345 

their  journey,  they  were  allowed  a  safe  passage  even 
through  an  enemy's  territory.1 

The  more  carefully  we  study  history,  the  more  im- 
portant in  our  eyes  will  hecome  the  religious  sense.  It 
is  almost  the  only  faculty  peculiar  to  man.  It  con- 
cerns him  nearer  than  aught  else.  It  holds  the  key  to 
his  origin  and  destiny.  As  such  it  merits  in  all  its  de- 
velopments the  most  earnest  attention,  an  attention  we 
shall  find  well  repaid  in  the  clearer  conceptions  we  thus 
obtain  of  the  forces  which  control  the  actions  and  fates 
of  individuals  and  nations. 

1  La  Vega,  Hist,  des  Incas,  lib.  vi.  chap.  30 ;  Xeres,  Ed.  de  la 
Conq.  du  Perou,  p.  151 ;  Let.  sur  les  Superstit.  du  Perou,  p.  98,  and 
others. 


THE     END. 


INDICES. 


I.— AUTHORS. 


Abbott,  C.  C.,  49. 

Acosta,  J.,   72,  149,  186,  211,  302, 

333. 

Adam,  L.,  36, 46, 101, 184. 
Adair,  J.,  89, 208, 263. 
Agassiz,  A.,  133. 
Alcazar,  F.,  77. 
Alegre,  F.  X.,  222. 
Alger,  W.  K.,  282,  295. 
Allen,  G.  A.,  166. 
Allouez,  P.,  340. 
Alva,  B.  de,  204. 
Ameghino,  F.,49. 
Andagoya,  P.,  330. 
Anderson,  Mr.,  316. 
Andree,  B.,  177, 235, 245. 
Annals  of  the  Cakchiquels,  238. 
Anthony,  A.  S.,  63,  262. 
Ara,  D.,  179. 
Arriaga,  P.,  185. 
Atharva  Veda,  the,  237. 
Avendano,  P.,  249. 

Bsegert,  P.,  272. 

Baer,  von,  37. 

Balboa,  M.  C.,  72, 212, 264,  320, 326. 

Bancroft,  H.  H.,  58,  65. 

Baraga,  F.,  63, 261. 

Bartram,  J..261. 

Bartram,  W.,  89, 128, 151, 325. 

Basanier,  M.,152 

Bastian,  A.,  55,  235. 

Bautista,  J.,  308, 338. 

Berendt,  C.  H.,  222. 

Bergen,  F.  D.,  168. 

Betanzos,  J.  de,  212. 

Beverly,  R.  B.,  124, 326. 

Blomes,  K.,  95, 138, 196,  221. 


Boas,  F.,  54,  55,  161,  180,  239,  277, 

278,  303. 
Boban,  E.,  177. 
Boggiani,  G.,  154. 
Borde,  de  la,  H.,  126,  136,  138. 
Boscana,  G.,67, 127. 
Boturini,  B.,  251. 
Bourke,  J.  G.,  131,  278,  305,  319, 

324. 

Bressani,  P.,  110. 
Bradford,  A.,  160. 
Brasseur,  E.  C.,  42,  57,  74,  81,  106, 

214,222,  251,336. 
Brebeuf,  P.,  80, 203,  290. 
Brown,  J.  M.,  115, 311. 
Bruyas,  J.,  65,  76, 203, 299. 
Burmeister,  H.,  49. 
Buschmann,  J.  E.,  36,  38,  42,  52, 

74,  106,  128,  156,  215,  224,  273, 

299. 

Buteux,  F.,  135. 
Byingtou,  C.,  165. 
Byrd,  W.,  209. 

Cabrera,  F.,  57, 106. 

Campanius,  T.,  209. 

Carriere,  Prof.,  15,  62. 

Carver,  J.,  308,  311. 

Catlin,  G.,  88,  102,  112,  129,  218, 

266. 
Chamberlain,  A.  F.,  161,  166,  182, 

196. 
Charencey,  H.  de,  106,   117,  218, 

245. 
Charlevoix,  P.,  159,  162, 196,  271, 

311. 

Chavero,  A.,  59. 
Chilan  Balam,  Books  of,  222. 
(347) 


348 


INDICES. 


Clark,  J.  V.  H.,  205. 
Clavigero,  F.  S.,  106,  264. 
Codex    Chimalpopoca,    158,    241, 
253. 

Telleriano-Bemensis,  281,  298. 

Vatican  us,  237,240,  250. 

Cortesianus,  204. 
Cogolludo,  F.,  64,   102,   110,  131, 

216,  249.  256,  292,  344. 
Cope,  E.  D.,  162. 
Copway,  G.,  29,  164. 
Coreal,  F.,  124, 173,  280,  285,  326. 
Cortes,  H.,  220. 
Culin,  S.,  113. 
Cunow,  H.,  100. 
Cuoq,  M.,  20,  63,  65,  121. 
Gushing,   F.H.,   31,  40,  113,  127, 
131,  145,  164,  178,  213,  230,  258, 
319,  324. 
Cusic,  D.,  79, 130,  139,  205.  264. 

Dawson,  G.  M.,  161. 
Deans,  J.,  166. 
Denis,  F.,219. 
Desjardins,  E.,  27,  241. 
D'Evreux,  Y.,  78, 147,  218. 
D'Orbigny,  A.,  118, 122,  146,  217, 

236,  301, 319. 
Dorsey,  J.  O.,  58, 109, 113, 116, 132, 

188,  197,  319. 
Dumont,  M.,  28,  149, 240. 
Duponceau,  S.,  74,  77,  155. 
Dupratz,  le  P.,  280. 
Duran,  D.,  117. 

Eastman,  Mrs.,  125, 139,  182,275. 

Echevarria  y  Veitia,  252. 

Egede,  H.,  67,   93,  124,  207,  226, 

260,  289,  321.  327. 
Ehrenreich,    P.,  55,  59,  154,  218, 

247,  266, 282. 
Eliot,  J.,  67. 

Emory,  W.  H.,  169, 218,  224. 
Epictetus,  234. 
Erdman,  F.,  203. 

Fewkes,  J.  W.,  51,  85, 113, 131. 
Fletcher,  A.  C.,  119,225,277. 
Forstemann,  E.,  26, 
Fowke,  G.,  49. 
French,  B.  F.,  275. 
Frobenius,  L.  V.,  152. 

Gabb,  W.  M.,  149,  173,  276. 


Gallatin,  A.,  36,  65,  68,  132,  155, 

205. 

Gama,  A.  L.,  90,  154,  157,  162, 188. 
Garcia,  G.,  69,  107,  154,  163,  230. 
Gatschet,  A.  S.,  65,  67,  76,  95,  232, 

259. 

Gilbar,  N.,  26. 
Goeken,  H.,  55. 
Goethe,  J.  W.,  207. 
Gomara.  F.,  34, 213. 
Granger,  F.,  269. 
Grasserie,  R.,  40. 
Gregg,  J.,  263. 
Grimm,  J.,  22,  108,  110,  234. 
Grinnell,  G.  B..  166. 
Guevara,  P.,  101, 118,  174,  246. 
Guigniaut,  M.,  99. 
Gumilla,  J.,  154,  172,  174. 

Haebler,  K.,  26. 

Haeser,  Dr.,  306. 

Hale,  H.,  30,  205,  338. 

Hammond,  W.  A.,  175. 

Harris,  36. 

Harrt,  C.  F.,  194. 

Harshberger,  J.  W.,  35,  51. 

Hartland,  E.  S.,  55. 

Hawkins,  B.,  89,  95, 110,  138,  283. 

314. 

Hazard,  S.,  119. 
Heart,  I.,  263. 
Heckewelder,  J.,  74,  123. 
Helmont,  A.,  155. 
Hennepin,  P.,  131. 
Henry,  A.,  133,  142,  196. 
Hewitt,  J.  N.  B.,  70, 132,  203,  275. 
Hindley.  J.  I.,  196. 
Hodge,  F.  C.,  131. 
Hodgson,  A.,  302. 
Hoffman,  W.  J.,  196,  200,  298,  324, 

328. 

Holm,  G.,  277. 
Holguin,  D.  G.,  186, 291. 
Holmes,  W.  H.,  49,  87,  117,  130. 
Hontan,  La,  31, 112,  164,  208. 
Hopkins,  E.  W.,  237,  248. 
Humboldt,  W.,  19, 32,  44, 178. 
Humboldt,  A.,  27,  32,  87,  101,  111, 

156,  225,  250,  297,  328. 

Ihering,  162. 

Im  Thurn.  E.  F.,  233,  266,  307. 

Ixtlilxochitl,  73,  74,  114. 


INDICES. 


349 


Jack,  E.,  202. 

Martyr,  P.,  23,  74,  95,  96,  104,  221. 

Jacobs,  J.,  55. 

Matthews,  W.,  31,  75,  76,  209,  276, 

Jarvis,  S.  F.,  55,  77. 

278,  342. 

Jesuit  Relations,  58,  70,  317. 
Jeune,  P.  C.,  81. 

Maury,  A.,  334. 
Maya  Chronicles,  the,  43. 

Jewitt,  J.  E.,  339. 

Meigs,  J.  A.,  49. 

Johnson,  Capt.,  218. 

Melendez,  J.,  231,  246. 

Jones,  J.  A.,  136. 

Mendieta,  G.,  181. 

Jones,  P.,  136. 

Meyen,  H.,  44,  152,  285. 

Joutel,  M.,  71. 

Middendorf,  E.  W.,  44,  59,  63,  111, 

187,  210. 

Kalewala,  the,  228. 

Milfort,  G.,  89. 

Kane.  E.  K.,  327. 

Molina,  A.,  67. 

Kant,  I.,  60,  219. 

Molina,  I.,  65,  74,  239,  289. 

Keating,  W.  H.,  157,  275. 

Montesinos,  F.,  185,  212. 

Kingsborough,  L.,  90,  103,  214. 

Mooney,  J.,  41,  151,  197,  273,  326, 

Klee,  M.,  251. 

327,  342. 

Kohl,  J.  G.,  196. 

Moore,  C-,  40. 

Krause,  A.,  239,  276. 

Moorehead,  W.  K.,  225. 

Morgan,  L.,  70,  188. 

Lacombe,  A.,  198,  202. 

Morice,  A.  G.,  54,  55,  239. 

Laet,  de,  J.,  194. 

Morillot,  P.,  227. 

Lafitau,  J.  F.,  65,  117,  119. 

Morse,  J.,  31,  101,  236,  294,  333, 

Lafone-Quevedo,  S.,  59,  211. 

342. 

Landa,  D.,  97,  116,  148,  249. 

Morton,  S.  G.,  49,  139. 

Lapham,  I,  116. 

Motul,  Dice,  de,  148. 

Las  Casas,  B.,  96,  114. 

Miiller,  J.  G.,  56,  76,  78,  214,  284. 

Lawson,  J.,  326. 

Miiller,  Max,  198. 

Lederer,  J.,  36,  101,  200,  326. 

Murdoch,  J.,  319. 

Leland,  C.  G.,  55,  196. 

Leon,  M.  de,  165. 

Navarrete,  M.  F.,  104,  174,  255,  330. 

Lewis  and  Clark,  172. 

Nelson,  W.,  133. 

Lizana,  P.,  222,  256. 

Neve,  F.,  248. 

Long,  S.  H.,  266,  290,301. 

Newell,  W.  W.,  168. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  205,  281. 

Nicolas,  J.,  202. 

Loskiel,  G.  H.,  63,  78,  115,  295. 

Nikkanoche,  O.,  147,  294. 

Lovisato,  D.,  49,  61; 

Noldeke,  H.,  132. 

Lumholtz,  C.,  176. 

Novalis,  338,  339. 

Lyell,  C.,  50. 

Nuttall,  T.,  88. 

Nuttall,  Z.,  115. 

McCoy,  I.,  182. 

McGee,  W.  J.,  49. 

Olrnos,  A.,  338. 

MacGowan,  Dr.,  322. 

Ore,  G.  de,  341. 

McKinney,  T.  L..  196. 

Orozco  y  Berra,  M.,  112. 

Mackenzie,  A.,  173,  229. 

Oviedo,  F.  de,  68,  154,  173,  273. 

Macrobius,  234. 

280,  285. 

Magelhaes,  C.,  188. 

Maistre,  J.  de,  119,  333. 

Pachacuti,  J.  S.,  334. 

Maler,  T.,  177. 

Padilla,  D.,  173,  216. 

Mallery,  G.,  23,  278. 

Palacios,  D.  G.,  90,  173. 

Marcy,  Lt.,  262. 

Pandosy,  C.,  67. 

Markham,  C.,  100,  298. 

Pane,  E.,  96. 

Martius,  C.  F.  P.  von,  51,  53,  75, 

Paul,  St.,  13,  274. 

160,  315. 

Payne,  Mr.,  151. 

350 


INDICES. 


Pefiafiel,  A.r  25. 

Penn,  W.,  162. 

Pennock,  J.,  293. 

Perrot,  N.,  173,  196. 

Petitot,  E.,  55,  58.  59. 

Pictet,  M.,  227. 

Piedrahita,  L.  F.,  217. 

Pigafetta,  A.,  261. 

Pond,  G.  H.,  79, 89. 

Powell,  J.  W.,  59,  121, 27S. 

Powers,  S.,  58,  161,  235,  267. 

Pratz,  du  L.,  127. 

Prescott,  W.  H.,  73,  78,  128,  233, 

237. 

Putnam,  F.  W.,  49. 
Pythagoras,  86j 

Quen,  P.  de,  317. 

Eamirez,  J.  F.,  241. 

Eand.S.  T.,  196,202. 

Eau,  C.,  273. 

Restrepo,  E.,  101,  115,  147,  217. 

Eeville,  A.,  59. 

Eichardson,  J.,  37,  38,  229,  239. 

Eiggs,  S.  E.,  62,  67,  92,  116,  258, 

274,  327. 

Eink,  H.,  278,  303. 
Eios,  P.delos,  177. 
Eivero  and  Tschudi,  249, 344. 
Eobson,  J.,  298. 
Eochefort,  C.,  217,  258. 
Eodriguez,  B.  J.,  59,  194,246. 
Eoman,  B.,  121,  263. 
Eogel,  P.,  76. 
Eothen,  E.,36. 
Euiz,  A.,  317. 

Sagard,  G.  T.,  156. 

Sagas,  the,  36. 

Sahagun,  B.,  93,  103,  105,  106,  114, 

150,  157, 216,  287,  320,  337. 
Sanchez,  J.,  152. 
Schellhas,  Dr.,  26,  59. 
Scherzer,  C.,  58. 
Schoolcraft,  H.  E.,  39,  56,  70,  94, 

160,  200,  255,  268,  318. 
Schwartz,  F.  L.  W.,  135,  139,  269, 
Seler,  E.,  25. 26,  59,  250,  293. 
Sepp,  Prof.,  86,  98,  252,333. 
Sergi,  G.,  49. 
Serna,  J.,  169,  197,  259,  278,  327, 

342. 
Shea,  J.  G.,  65,  70,  80, 151. 


Sibley,  Dr.,  238. 

Simon,  P.,  217. 

Smet,  P.  de,  89, 110, 182,  200. 

Smith,  B,  85. 

Smith,  E.  A.,  130. 

Smith,  H.,  264 

Smith,  J.,  64. 

Smith,  W.,  237. 

Smith,  W.,  119. 

Spencer,  H.,  314. 

Sprague,  J.  P.,  152. 

Spix.  J.  B.  von,  157. 

Sprengel,  K.,  157. 

Squier,  E.  G.,  56,  80,  116,  131,  223. 

Staden,  H.,  101,  245. 

Stanley,  J.  M.,  318. 

Stephens,  J.  L.,  344. 

Stevenson,  J.,  178, 189. 

Stevenson,  M.  C.,  131. 

Strachey,  W.,  196,  200. 

Strack,  H.  L.,  176. 

Steinen,  C.  v.  d.,  45,  55,  59,  68, 123, 

166,  174,  271. 
Steinthal,  H.,  19. 

Tanner,  J.,  142,  163,  169,  201,  301, 

308. 

Tarayre,  G.,  177. 
Ternaux-Compans,  90,  150,  251. 
Techo,  N.  de,  218. 
Tezozomoc,  H,  A.,  293. 
Thevet,  A.,  246. 
Thomas,  C.,  26,  55,  91. 
Thomas,  G.,  153. 
Timberlake,  Lt.,  127, 137. 
Tonty,  S.  de,  127. 
Torquemada,  J.,  25,  136, 142,  189, 

216,  249,  259,  287, 
Trumbull,  H.  C.,  176. 
Trumbull,  J.  H.,  63,  121, 164,  258. 
Tschudi,  V.   J.,   59,  63,  160,  162, 

187,  210,  211,  212,213. 
Turner,  W.  W.,  36,  38. 
Tylor,  E.  B.,  289. 

Uhle,  M.,  27. 
Ulloa,  A.  de,  210. 

Vasconcellos,  S.,  246. 

Vater,  J.  S.,  236. 

Vega,  G.  de  la,  44,  72,  87,  100,  161, 

186,  285,  301,  324,  332,  345. 
Vega,  N.  de  la,  141. 


ega,  JN  .  ae  la,  141. 
elasco,  J.  D.,  150,  255. 


INDICES. 


351 


Venegas,  M.,  110. 
Vetancurt,  174. 
Vetromile,  E.,  207. 
Villagutierre  Sotomayor,  115. 
Virchow,  E.,  41,  49. 
Volney,  155. 
Voluspa,  the,  251,  254. 

Waitz,  T..  14,  25,  57,  184,  289,  330, 

335. 

Wake,  C.S.,  121. 
Waldeck,  de,  171. 
Whipple,  A.  W.,  78,  151,  224,  322. 
Williams,  K.,  63,  77,  164,  276,  285. 


Wilson,  T.,  49. 
Winkler,  H.,20. 
Winslow,  77. 
Wright,  A.,  165. 
Wright,  F.  W.,  49. 

Xeres,  F.  de,  73,  345. 
Ximenes,  F.,  29,  57,  68,  81,  102, 
208,  229,  243,  260, 292,  333. 

Yarrow,  H.  C.,  297,  299. 
Zatapatha  Brahmana,  the,  237, 248. 


II.— SUBJECTS. 


Abenakis,  the,  119,  198,  207. 
Acagchemem,  tribe,  127. 
Acalan,  the  province  of,  179. 
Achaguas,  tribe,  245. 
Age  of  Man  in  America,  48  sq. 
Ages  of  the  World,  251. 
Agriculture,  native,  35. 

gods  of,  152, 157. 
Ahsonnutli,  a  deity,  178, 189. 
Air,  children  of  the,  106. 

Lord  of  the,  213. 

rabbit  as  symbol  of,  197. 

kissing  the,  69. 
Akakanet,  a  deity,  78. 
Akbal,  the  holy  or  cosmic  vase, 

152. 

Akanzas,  tribe,  127,  278. 
Alaghom  Naom,  a  deity,  179. 
Aleutian  Islanders,  267. 
Algonkins,  location,  39. 

language,  63. 

prayers,  340. 

mythology,  77,  78,  80,  94,  118, 
125,  130,  142,  159,  169,  193 
sq.,  235,  239,  244,  255,  274, 
278,  281,  293,  318,  327,  336, 
etc. 

Alligator,  a  sacred  animal,  121. 
Aluberi,  an  Arawack  deity,  75 
Amalivaca,  a  hero-god,  192. 
Amulets,  136-139,  319,  344. 


Ancestors,  worship  of,  297  sq. 

mythical,  of  the  race,  96,  101, 

218,  238. 

Androgynous  deities,  177  sq. 
Angont,  a  deity,  159. 
Antediluvian  people,  235,  240. 
Apaches,  tribe,  37,  224. 

medicine  men  of,  305,  319. 
Apocatequil,  a  deity,  184. 
Apochquiahuayan,       an       Aztec 
Hade 


Ararats,  the,  of  America,  238. 
Arawacks,  location,  45,  47. 

myths,  75,  165,  265. 
Araucanians,  46, 65, 74, 78, 239, 245. 
Architecture,  religious,  343. 
Arickarees,  the,  128. 
Aricoute,  a  deity,  218. 
"Arks"  of  the  Indians,  296. 
Arrows,  as  thunderbolts,  190,  216. 

in  divination,  90. 
Aschochimi,  tribe,  235. 
Aspergillum,  the,  147. 
Astrology,  the  science  of,  320. 
Ataensic,   a  deity,   145,  153,   1§6, 

203  sq. 

Ataguju,  a  deity,  184. 
Atatarho,  a  deity,  140. 
Athapascas,  location,  37,  47. 

myths,  126,  181,  182,  228,  267, 


352 


INDICES. 


Atius  Tirawa,  a  deity,  166. 
Atl,  a  deity,  153. 
Atlatl,  as  a  symbol,  115. 
Atnai,  tribe,  267. 
Augurs,  college  of,  124. 
Aurora,  myths  of,  158,  209.    See 
Dawn. 

borealis,  in  myths,  282,  286. 
Awoniwilona,  a  deity,  177,  229. 
Aymaras,  location,  43-4,  47. 

myths,  62,  210,  264. 

See      Peruvians,      Quichuas, 

Incas. 
Aztec  writing,  23. 

language,  23,  41,  67,  273. 

customs,  86,  89,  254. 

myths,  74, 93,  99, 105, 153, 157, 
169,  177,  188,  240,  257,  264, 


prayers,  337,  341. 
See  Mexicans,  Nahuas. 
A.ztlan,  the  white  land,  107,  215. 

Bacabs,  deities,  97,  117. 
Bad  Spirit,  unknown,  77. 
Bakairi,  tribe,  45,  68. 
Baptism,  aboriginal,  149, 156. 

of  fire,  169. 

Bat,  the,  in  symbolism,  293. 
Bathing,  ceremonial,  147. 
Beards  among  Indians,  214. 
Biloxis,  tribe,  41. 
Bimini,  a  fabulous  land,  104. 
Bird,  as  a  symbol,  123  sq.,  182  sq., 

187,  201,  '214,  215,  228  sq.,  230, 

239,  242,  249,  315. 
Bird-Serpent,  the,  141,  214,  229 
Birth,  the  house  of,  212. 

the  second,  148. 
Bisexual  deities,  177  sq. 
Bitch-mother,  the,  160. 
Bitol,  a  deity,  74. 
Black,  as  a  symbolic  color,  97. 

drink,  of  Creeks,  315. 
Blackfeet,  the,  tribe,  115,  262. 
Black  Hawk,  a  chieftain,  310. 
Blood,  symbolism  of,  163, 176, 201. 
Blue,  symbolism  of,  63, 189. 
Bochica,  a  hero-god,  217. 
Boiuca,  a  fabulous  land,  104. 
Bones,  the  soul  in  the,  295  sq.,299, 

321. 

Books  of  Aztecs,  23. 
Botocudos,  tribe,  145,  235,  256. 


Botuto,  order  of  the,  328. 
Breath,  Master  of,  67,  263. 
as  soul,  67, 126,  273  sq. 
Bribri,  tribe,  149, 173. 
Burial  customs,  90,  109,  116,  119, 

169,  272,  278-282,  285. 
Burning  the  dead,  169. 
Busk,  a  Creek  festival,  89, 115. 
Butterfly,  as  symbol,  128. 

Caddoes,  tribe,  111,  238,  245. 

Cakchiquels,  tribe,  96. 

Calendar,  the  native,  91,  98,  205, 
238,  252,  343. 

Caliban,  in   Shakespeare's    Tem- 
pest, 261. 

Californian  Indians,  58,  161,  235, 
272. 

Calmecac,  a  college  of  priests,  323. 

Camaxtli,  a  deity,  190. 

Candelaria,  Maria,  a  heroine,  325. 

Cannibalism,  ceremonial,  333. 

Cantico,  derivation  of,  162. 

Carayas,  tribe,  245,  265. 

Cardinal  points,  adoration  of,  84 
sq.,  189,  200  sq. 

Caribs,  location,  45. 

mythology,  68,  78,  116,  126, 
136,  138,  258,  261,  265,  275, 
284,  296,  323. 

Carriers,  tribe,  239. 

Casas  grandes,  the,  265. 

Catawbas,  tribe,  41. 

Catequil,  a  deity,  185. 

Caugh,  a  deity,  239. 

Caves,  sacred,  95,  100,  238,  265. 
sepulchral,  297. 

Celibate  priesthood,  172,  181. 

Centeotl,  a  deity,  35,  157. 

Ceremonial  circuit,  112-114. 

Chac,  deities,  98. 

Chaco,  Gran,  the,  46. 

Chahta-Muskoki  dialects,  40. 

Chakekenapok,  a  deity,  200. 

Cbalchihuitlicue,  a  deity,  145. 

Chantico,  a  deity,  161. 

Chepewyans.     See  Athapascaa. 

Cherokees,  alphabet  of,  28. 
location,  38. 
words,  67,  327. 

mythology,  78,  137,  151,  192, 
197,  273,  322. 

Chia,  a  deity,  156. 

Chibchas.     Se.e  Muyscas. 


INDICES. 


353 


Chichimecs,  tribe,  190. 
Chickasaws,  location,  140. 

myths,  256,  262,  263. 
Chicomoztoc,    the     seven    caves, 

228,  264. 

Chilan  Balam,  priests,  222. 
Childbirth,  deities  of,  153,  155, 160. 

ceremonies    concerning.    90, 
112. 

beliefs  about,  286. 
Chimalman,  a  deity,  172. 
Chimu  language,  44. 
Chinooks,  tribe,  277. 
Chippewa  picture  writing,  23,  29. 

mythology,  88,  196,  301. 

See  Algonkins. 
Choctaws,  location,  40. 

terms,  65,  68. 

myths,  65,  101,  165,  263,  302, 

322,  326. 

Cholula,  pyramid  of,  239, 265. 
Chotas,  tribe,  190. 
Cibola,  seven  cities  of,  265. 
Cihuacoatl,  a  deity,  142. 
Cihuapipilti,  of  Aztecs,  287. 
Cipactli,  a  deity,  236. 
Circumcision,  172. 
Citatli,  a  deity,  153. 
Circuit,  the  ceremonial,  112. 
Clairvoyance  of  native  priests,  310 

sq.,  321. 

Cloud-Serpent,  the,  190,  215. 
Coacooche,  his  dream,  151. 
Coatlicue,  a  deity,  140, 172. 
Colhuacan,  a  sacred  hill,  238. 
Collahuayas,  tribe,  328. 
Colors,  symbolism  of,  63,  97,  163, 

180,  189,  203,  207  sq. 
Comanches,  tribe,  41. 
Con  or  Can,  a  deity,  187,  210  sq. 
Confession  of  sins,  149,  333. 
Cosmogony,  beliefs  of,  226  sq. 

Asian     and    American    com- 
pared, 250. 

Costa  Bica,  Indians  of,  173,  276. 
Couvade,  the,  174. 
Coxcox,  a  mythical  hero,  236. 
Coyote,  in  myths,  161,  235. 
Coyoteros,  tribe,  262. 
Cozumel,  cross  of,  114. 

island  of,  344. 

Craniology,  American,  41,  49. 
Creation,  myths  of,  167,  226,  235. 
Creator,  idea  of  a,  74,  75,  231. 


Creeks,  location,  40. 

words,  65,  67. 

myths,  76, 89,  95,  i09,  115, 121, 
137,  228,  259,  263,  283,  314, 
325. 

Crees,  tribe,  202. 
Crescent,  the,  as  a  symbol,  142. 
Cross,  symbol  of,  113  sq. 

of  Palenque,  141,  222. 
Cueravaperi,  a  deity,  179. 
Cunas,  tribe,  173. 
Cundinamarca,  114. 
Curupira,  a  deity,  194, 
Cycles,  belief  in   recurrent,  234, 
252. 

of  Aztecs,  254. 

Dakotas,  location,  40. 

words,  62,  67,  305,  326. 
mythology,  79,  88, 94, 109, 116, 
125,  139,  174,  188,  197,  258, 
277,  300,  313. 
Dance  of  the  dead,  286. 
Dances,  sacred,  89, 113,  162,  225. 
Dawn,  symbolism  of  the,  109,  166, 
186,  190,  198  sq.,   212,  214, 
264. 

lodgings  of  the,  264. 
heroes  of  the,  220. 
Daybreak,  Lord  of  the,  219. 
Delawares.    See  Lenni  Lenape. 
Delirium,  the  divine,  315. 
Deluge,  myths  of  the,  218, 234  sq. 
Den&.    See  Athapascas. 
Devil,  unknown  to  primitive  re- 
ligions, 76,  292. 
Dew  as  holy  water,  148. 
Dialects,  esoteric,  326. 
Dighton  Rock  inscription,  23. 
Divination,  methods  of,  113,  319. 
Dje  Manedo,  a  late  name  of  deity, 

196. 

Dobayba,  a  deity,  145. 
Dogi,  tribe,  36. 
Dogribs,  tribe,  173,  267. 
Dogs,  in  symbol  and  myth,  159 
sq.,  242,  243,  274,  279,  288-290, 
315,  336. 

Dove,  as  a  symbol,  129, 239,  294. 
"  Dreaming  of  the  gods,"  321. 
Dreams  as  divine  intimations,  156, 

305,  312. 

Dualism  of  divinities,  79, 177. 
ethical  unknown,  81. 


23 


354 


INDICES. 


Eagle,  as  a  symbol,  127. 

Earth,  myths  concerning,  257  sq. 
mother,  the,  258. 

Earthquakes,  god  of,  216. 

East,  symbolism  of,  109,  154.  199, 
207, 217. 

Eclipse,  customs  at,  154, 160. 

Education,  native,  31. 

Eggs,  in  symbolism,  228,  249. 

Ehecatl,  a  deity,  214,  273. 

El  Dorado,  location  of,  105. 

Enigohatgea,  a  deity,  79. 

Enigorio,  a  deity,  79. 

Epochs  of  nature,  myths  of,  232 
sq,,  250  sq. 

Eponymous  ancestor,  the,  298. 

Esaugetuh  Emissee,  a  deity,  67. 

Eskimos,  location,  36. 

customs  and  myths,  90, 93, 124, 
160,  180,  207,  226,  267,  277, 
282,  286,  289,  302,  319,  321, 
324. 
words,  67. 

Estas,  a  deity,  239. 

Ethno-botany  of  America,  51. 

Eva  One,  the,  78. 

Fear,  as  origin  of  religion,  334. 
Feathered  Serpent,  the,  141. 
Female  deities,  179-183. 
Fetiches,  personal,  319. 
Fetich  ism,  57,  319. 
Fire,  gods  of,  169,  185. 

new,    how    made,    115,    116, 
168. 

on  graves,  281. 

origin  of,  239. 

perpetual,  168,  224. 

worship  of,  162  sq.,  187. 
Fish-god,  the,  236,  247. 
Five  Nations.    See  Iroquois. 
Flint-stone,    symbolic,    189,    197, 

200,  204, 216. 

Flood-myths.    See  Deluge. 
Floridian  tribes,  40,  105,  151,  175, 

294,  333. 

Foam,  as  symbol,  145,  213. 
Forty,  a  sacred  number,  111. 
Fountain  of  Youth,  the,  104,  105, 

151. 
Four,  as  the  sacred  number,   84 

sqq.,  189,  215,  218,  252,  321,  etc. 
Frog,  symbolism  of  the,  204. 
Fruitfulness,  god  of,  141. 


Games,  symbolism  of,  113. 
Garonhia,  a  deity,  65. 
Generative  principle,  worship  of, 

99,  155,  177. 

Ghost  dances,  of  Indians,  225. 
Giants,  stories  of,  241. 
Gizhigooke,  a  deity,  202. 
Glacial  age  in  America,  49. 
Glooscap,  a  deity,  202. 
Great  Spirit,  the,  69. 
Green,  symbolism  of,  117, 189, 229. 
tree,  the,  117. 
corn  dance,  89. 
Guachemines,  deities,  185  sq. 
Guamansuri,  the  first  man,  184. 
Guaranis,  tribe,  62,  101,  184,  317, 

336. 

Guardian  Spirit,  the,  77,  89, 173. 
Guatavita,  Lake,  146,  344. 
Guaycurus,  tribe,  154,  173,  176. 
Guaymis,  tribe,  231,  246,  326. 
Gucumatz,  a  deity,  141. 
Gumongo,  a  deity,  110. 

Haidah,  tribe,  239. 
Haitians,  45,  68, 74,  95, 221,  262. 
Hand,  the,  symbolism  of,  214,  216. 
Haokah,  a  deity,  183,  189. 
Hare  Indians,  173. 

the  Great,  194  sq.,  339. 
Hawaneu,  a  deity,  70. 
Head,  as  seat  of  the  soul,  276. 
Heaven  of  the  red  man,  284. 

Hill  of,  343. 
Heliolatry,  167,  284. 
Hell,    unknown      in     American 

myths,  291. 
Heno,  a  deity,  188. 
Herbs,  use  of  narcotic,  314. 
Hermaphrodite  deities,  178. 
Heyoka,  a  deity,  110. 
Hiawatha,  a  hero-god,  205,  338. 
Hidatsa,  the  tribe,  62,  153,  209. 
Hieroglyphics,  Mayan,  26  sq.,  343. 
Hills,  holy,  see  Mountains. 
Hiyonyulgee,  the  mythical  ances- 
tors, 95. 

Hobbamock,  a  deity,  77. 
Holy  Water,  147. 
Horn,  of  the  serpent,  138. 

as  a  weapon,  203. 
Hnaca,  meaning  of,  62. 
Huastecas,  92. 
Huecomitl,  the  cosmic  Vase,  152. 


INDICES. 


355 


Huehueteotl,  a  deity,  169. 
Huehuetlatolli,  Aztec  formularies, 

337. 

Huemac,  a  deity,  214, 216. 
Huitzilopochtli,   an  Aztec  deity, 

140,  323. 

Humanity,  the  ideal  of,  338. 
Hunahpu,  a  Quiche  deity,  178,  300. 
Huracan,  the  storm-god,  68.98,  99, 

136,  188,  229. 
Hurons,  tribe,  38, 64. 

myths,  80, 136,  156,  159,  316. 
prayers  of,  339. 
Hushtoli,  a  deity,  68. 
Hysteria,  epidemic,  317. 

Idacanzas,  a  hero-god,  217. 

Ideographic  writing,  22,  32. 

Idols,  found  everywhere,  343. 

Ikto,  a  deity,  197. 

llama,  a  deity,  259. 

Illatici,  a  deity,  72,  187. 

Incas,  the,  of  Peru,  43,  44,  72,  86, 

99, 167,  209,  298,  323,  331. 
Incineration  of  corpses,  169. 
Incorporation  in  language,  19. 
Indian  summer,  cause  of,  196. 
Innuit,  see  Eskimos, 
loskeha,  a  deity,  203  sq. 
Ipurinas,  tribe,  154. 
Iroquois,  location,  38. 

terms,  65,  70,  76. 

mythology,  79,  100,  118,  130, 

202  sq.,  231,  264,  274,  338. 
Isla  de  las  Mugeres,  the,  179. 
Isolation  of  the  rod  race,  33. 
Itsikamahidis,a  deity,  75. 
Itzcuinan,  a  deity,  160. 
Itzamna,  a  hero-god,  217,222,  335. 
Ixmucane,  a  deity,  260. 
Iztac  Mixcoatl,  a  deity,  190, 215. 
Iztat  Ix,  a  deity,  179. 

Jaguar,  a  sacred  animal,  121. 
Jossakeed,  a  prophet,  195. 
Journey  of  the  Soul,  289. 
Jugglery,  native,  308. 
Juripari,  a  deity,  77. 
Jus  primse  noctis,  176,  333. 

Kaboi,  a  deity,  218. 
Kab-ul,  a  deity,  216. 
Kamu,  a  hero-god,  218. 
Kaneakeluh,  a  deity,  239. 


Kenai,  tribe,  264. 
Killistenoes,  311. 
Kittanitowit,  deity,  77. 
Klamath,  tribe,  259. 
Knisteneaux,  tribe,  297. 
Kolusch,  tribe,  163,  164,  267. 
Kootenay,  tribe.  161,  166. 
Ku,  a  divine  name,  64. 
Kukulcan,  a  hero-god,  141,  222. 
Kwakiutl,  a  tribe,  239. 

Lakes,  as  centres  of  civilization, 

146. 
Languages,  American,  19,  36,  52. 

sacred,  of  priests,  325  sq. 
Lenni  Lenape,  tribe,  39,  74,  115, 

133,  162,  169,  221,  269. 
Life,  symbol  of,  117,  133. 

the  Sustainer  of,  180. 

Tree  of,  117,  217. 
Light,  symbolism  of,  166,  198  sq., 
214. 

god,  the,  166,  198,  206,  210. 

derivation,  198. 
Lightning,   symbol  of,  126,    134, 

139,  182  sq.,  190. 

Lingam  symbol,  the,  176,  258,  261. 
Lipans,  tribe,  37. 
Literature,  aboriginal,  25,  343. 
Liver,  as  seat  of  the  soul,  276. 
Love,  gods  of,  153,  160,  188. 
Lunar  deities,  see  Moon. 

Magicians,  native,  141,  308. 
Maize,  cultivation  of,  35,  51. 

gods  of,  157. 

myths  concerning,  35,  290. 
Mama  Alppa,  a  deity,  257. 
Mama  Nono,  a  deity,  258. 
Mama  Cocha,  a  deity,  145. 
Mama  Quilla,  a  deity,  155. 
Man,  origin  of,  257  sq. 

word  for,  260. 

not  developed  in  America,  48. 

in  the  moon,  197. 

the  first,  237. 
Manco  Capac,  212. 
Mandans,  tribe,  88, 102,  112,  172, 

218,  240,  266. 
Manibozho,  a  deity,  80, 194  sq.,  see 

Michabo. 

Manito,  derivation,   63,  131,   132, 
340. 

kitchi,  70,  135. 


356 


INDICES. 


Mann,  a  deity,  237,  247. 
Marriage  rites,  112,  172,  176. 

gods  of,  155. 

Master  of  Breath,  67,  263. 
Matowelia,  deity,  165. 
Maues,  tribe,  133. 
Mayas,  graphic  system,  25. 

hieroglyphics,  26,  97. 

location,  43. 

words,  116. 

myths,  64,  96,  102,  147,  216, 

249,  256,  259,  277. 
Mbocobis,  tribe,  118,  173,  236,  246. 
Meda-society,   88,    142,   195,    324, 

328. 
Medicine  men,  133,  147,  195,  304 


Med'i 


licine  women,  324. 
Medicine  stone,  the,  128. 
Memory,  of  natives,  31. 
Mesmerism,  among    natives,  310, 

313. 
Messiah,  hoped  for,  208,  223. 

craze,  the,  225. 
Messou,  a  name  of  Michabo,  197, 

244. 
Mesuk  kum  megokwa,  a   deity, 

142. 

Metempsychosis,  doctrine  of,  294. 
Metztli,  the  Moon,  155, 158. 
Mexican  writing,  25. 

mythology,   78,  90,   117,  281, 
287.     See  Aztecs,    Nahuas, 
Toltecs. 
Michabo,    159,  170,   194  sq.,  232, 

235,  255,  336. 
Micmac  hieroglyphs,  28. 
Mictla,  78. 

Mictlan,  in  Aztec  myths,  292,  299. 
Mictlanteuctli,  a  deity,  292,  293. 
Midewiwin  society.     See  Meda. 
Milky  way,  path  of  souls,  284. 
Millennium,  notion  of  a,  303. 
Minnetarees,  tribe,  75,  266,  267. 
Missibizi,  a  deity,  197. 
Mixcoatl,  a  deity,  35,  68,  190. 
Mixtecas,  the  tribe,  107,  230. 
Mohaves,  tribe,  165. 
Mohawks,  tribe,  204,  273. 
Monan,  a  deity,  245. 
Monkeys,  origin  of,  244,  246. 
Monotheism,  native  American,  56, 

69,  71-75. 
Monquis,  the  tribe,  110,  128. 


Montezuma,  his  address,  220. 

myths,  concerning.  223. 
Moon,  symbolism  of,  153  sq.,  181. 

man  in  the,  197. 
Moquis,  tribe,  131. 
Mother  of  the  Gods,  169,  178,  198. 

of  Wisdom,  179. 
Mound-builders,  the,  87,  146. 
Mounds,  emblematic,  116,  263. 

bone,  296,  302. 

sacrificial,  146. 
Mountains,  holy,  165,  262,  315. 

of  paradise,  97, 165. 
Mourning  customs,  90. 
Moxos,  the  tribe,    122,   146,  267, 

322. 

Muskokees.     See  Creeks. 
Mummification,  practice  of,  298  sq. 
Mundrucus,  tribe,  176. 
Muskokis.    See  Creeks. 
Muskrat,  in  myths,  231,  239,  244. 
Muyscas,  location,  43. 

mythology,  91,  101,  115,  156, 
217,  337,  344. 

Nagualism,  doctrine  of,  122,  169, 

175, 188,  197,  259,  315,  324,  327. 
Nahuas.  23,  90,  101,  117,  134,  140, 
143,  165,  179,  190,  197,  213  sq., 
265,  277.    -See  Aztecs,  Mexicans, 
Toltecs. 
Nahuatl  language,  23,  42. 

mythology,  101. 
Names,  sacredness  of,  86,  277-8. 

bestowing,  150. 
Nanahuatl,  deity,  158. 
Nanibojou,  197,  200. 
Narcotics,  use  of,  314. 
Natchez,  tribe,  91,  101,  127,  149, 

240,  262,  280. 
Natose,  a  deity,  115. 
Navajos,  tribe,  37. 

customs,  149, 224,  281. 
myths,  96,  102,  125,  240,  262, 

276. 
Navel  string,  sacredness  of,  103, 

174. 

of  the  earth,  103,259,  292. 
Nemqueteba,  a  hero-god,  217,  337. 
Neo,  a  deity,  70. 
Netelas,  tribe,  67. 
Nezahualcoyotl,  his  address,  220. 
Nezahuatl,  73. 
Nez  Perces,  tribe,  313,  322. 


INDICES. 


357 


Nicaraguans,  170,  173,  190,   235, 

273,  330. 

Night,  gods  of  the,  155, 160,  290. 
Nikilstlas,  a  deity,  239. 
Nine,  a  mystic  number,  230,  251, 

289  sq. 

Nokomis,  a  deity,  258. 
Noncomala,  a  deity,  231,  24<>. 
Nootka  Indians,  the,  339. 
North,  symbolism  of,  110. 
Nottaways,  the,  tribe,  38,  64. 
Numbers,  sacred,  origin  of,  84,  86. 

See  Three,  Four,  Seven,  Nine, 

Thirteen. 
Numock-muckenah,    a   hero-god, 

192. 

Nunne  Chaha,  a  hill,  263. 
Nubu,  a  deity,  246. 

Occaniches,  tribe,  326. 
Ocean-stream,  the  primitive,  158, 

227  sq. 

Omahas,  the,  tribe,  119. 
Oneidas,  tribe,  264. 
Onniont,  a  deity,  136. 
Onondagas,  tribe,  205. 
Oonawleh  Unggi,  a  deity,  68. 
Orientation  of  buildings,  87. 
Osages,  tribe,  231. 
Otomi  language,  20,  38. 
Ottawas,  the,  tribe,  110,  173. 
Ottoes,  the,  tribe,  101. 
Owl,  as  symbol,  128,  325. 

Pacarina,  a  Quichua  deity,  298. 

Pacari-tampu,  100. 

Pachacamac,  a  deity,  72,  73,  210 

sq.,  341. 

Pachayacachic,  a  deity,  211. 
Palaeolithic  Age  in  America,  48. 
Palenque,  cross  of,  141. 
Pamerys,  tribe,  246. 
Panes,  a  deity,  127. 
Panos,  tribe,  26. 
Parallels  in  mythology,  53. 
Paradise,  the  earthly,  103-106. 
Passes,  tribe,  258. 
Patol,  a  deity,  179. 
Patolli,  a  game,  113. 
Pawnees,  tribe,  89,  101,  166,  174, 

245,  342. 

Pemolnick,  a  Lenape  word,  261. 
Peud  d'Oreilles,  tribe,  272. 
Peruda,  a  deity,  188. 


Peruvians,  records  of,  27. 

customs  and  myths,  78,  86, 90, 
99,  142, 145,  209  sq.,  224,  248, 
254,  280,  301,  319,  326,  344. 

See    Aymaras,     Incas,     Qui- 

Phallic  worship,  170,  176  sq.,  258, 
Picture-writing,  22-24,  91. 
Pile-dwellings,  146. 
Pilgrimages,  custom  of,  146,  344. 
Pimos,  tribe,  218. 
Pleiades,  the,  78. 
Pole,  sacred,  118. 

of  Omahas,  119. 
Polysynthesis,  19. 
Powhatans,  64,  124, 326. 
Prayers,  the  native,  339. 
Pregnancy,  fears  of,  173. 
Priests,   the  native,  304  sq.    See 

Medicine  Men. 
Printing,  native,  24. 
Puberty,  customs  concerning,  173, 

321. 

Pueblo  Indians,  175,  223,  245,  256. 
Puelches,  tribe,  318. 
Pumarys,  tribe,  245. 

Qabavil,  a  deity,  107. 
Quahootze,  a  deity,  339. 
Quetzal  bird,  the,  128, 141. 
Quetzalcoatl,  a  .hero-god,  114,  124, 

141,  172,  213  sq.,  221,  335-338. 
Quiateot,  a  deity,  154. 
Quiches,  records  of,  29. 

name,  44. 

myths,  68,  74,  81,  86,  96,  102, 
107,  117,  189,  229,  242,  291. 
Quichuas,  location,  43,  47. 
words,  111. 
myths,  72, 78,  185  sq.,  210, 259, 

264,  298. 

See  Incas,  Peruvians. 
Quipus,  of  Peruvians,  27,  163. 

Rabbit,  myths  of,  197. 
symbolism  of,  253. 
Eacumon,  a  deity,  138. 
Eain,  gods  of,  93,  114  sq.,  184  sq., 

249. 

Bain-making,  115. 
Eattlesnake,  as  symbol,    130  sq., 

142,  201,  214. 

Eaven,   in  myths,  166,  229,  230, 
239,  244, 249. 


358 


INDICES. 


Rebus  writing,  24. 

Reciprocal   principle,    in  myths, 

171. 
Red,  symbolic  color,  97,  98,  163, 

189. 
Reproductive   principle,   worship 

of,  99,  177,  261. 

Resurrection  of  the  body,  295. 
Riches,  god  of,  141,  142. 
Right  and  left,  in  mythology,  112. 
Rimac,  a  Quichua  deity,  344. 
Rivers  of  Paradise,  the,  103,  118. 

the  nine,  289,  290. 
Root-Diggers,  tribe,  41,  226,  269. 
Rutbe,  a  deity,  231. 

Sacrifices,  human,  74,  90, 180,  280 
sq.,  330,  333. 

origin  of,  333,  334. 
Sacs,  the  tribe,  101,  132,  156,  310, 

318. 

Sarama,  a  Vedic  deity,  206. 
Sauks,  see  Sacs. 
Savacou,  a  deity,  138. 
Scalping,  origin  of,  276. 
Seasons,  the  four,  91. 
Sedna,  a  deity,  180. 
Seminoles,  tribe,  152,262,  294. 
Serpent-symbol,  the,  129  sq.,  201, 
230. 

King,  the,  130, 135, 142. 

charming,  140. 

woman,  the,  142. 

as  phallus,  177. 

hill  of,  140. 

Setebos,  a  Patagonian  deity,  261. 
Seven,  a  sacred  number,  83,  151, 
237,  252,  253,  265,  314,  322,  324. 
Sexual  dualism  in  myths,  171  sq. 
Shadow,  the,  as  soul,  273. 

as  god  of  the  dead,  291. 
ShamanSy       see       Medicine-men, 

Priests. 
Shawnees,  the,  101,  132,  136,  169, 

322. 

Shell-heaps,  50. 
Shoshonees,  tribe  location,  41. 

myths,  161. 
Shuswap,  tribe,  161. 
Sillam  Innua,  an    Eskimo  deity, 

67,  93. 

Sin,  original,  sense  of,  150. 
Siouan,  see  Dakotas. 
Skraliugar,  the,  36. 


Sky  as  a  god,  65, 164. 

Smoking,  ceremonial,  88. 

Snake,  see  Serpent. 

Snake  Indians,  see  Shoshonees. 

Snake  plant,  the,  314. 

Sodomy  as  a  rite,  175. 

Solar  myths,  analyzed,  163  sq. 

Soul,  beliefs  in,  124,  271  sq.,  318. 

Soul  iis  breath,  66. 

"Soul  of  the  World,"  74. 

Soul,  path  of  the,  284. 

journey  of  the,  289. 
Soul  in  the  bones,  299. 
South,  symbolism  of  the,  111. 
Star,  the  morning,  214. 
Stars,  as  departed  souls,  285. 

knowledge  of  the,  343. 
Stones,  sacred  and  symbolic,  189, 

190,  264, 294,  344. 
Sua,  a  hero-god,  217. 
Sun,  in  myths,  71,  163  sq.,  181. 

as  female,  181. 
"  Suns  "   or  Ages,  of  Aztecs,  250, 

251. 

Supay,  a  Peruvian  deity,  78,  291. 
Surites,  a  hero-god,  222. 
Susquehannocks,  the,  tribe,  38. 
Swedenborg,  his  singular  powers, 

312. 
Syphilis,  in  myths,  158. 

Tacci,  tribe,  36. 

Takahlis,  tribe,  231,  236,  262,  294, 

296,  332. 

Tamandare,  a  hero-god,  246. 
Tamu,  a  hero-god,  217,  298,  336. 
Tarahumaras,  tribe,  176. 
Taras,  a  deity,  190. 
Tarascas,  tribe,  179,  190,  222. 
Taru,  a  deity,  145. 
Tarenyawagon,  a  deity,  205. 
Tawiscara,  a  deity,  203. 
Tecolotl,  a  deity,  128. 
Tecziztecatl,  a  deity,  155. 
Telepathy,    among   the    natives, 

310. 

Teo-Chichimecs,  tribe,  190. 
Tezcatlipoca,  a  deity,  67, 215. 
Theg-theg,  a  holy  hill,  239. 
Thirteen,  a  sacred   number,  188, 

255. 

Thlinkit,  a  tribe,  239,  276. 
Three,  as  a  sacred  number,  84, 188, 

239,  249. 


INDICES. 


359 


Throwing-stick,  as  a  symbol,  115. 
Thunder,    symbolism  of,  68,  136, 
182, 187,  210,  219. 

storm,  in  mythology,  181  sq. 

stones,  184, 185. 

mountain  of,  239. 
Thunder-bird,   the,  119,  139,  182, 
239. 

vase,  72, 187, 210. 
Time,  symbolical,  133. 
Timondonar,  a  deity,  218. 
Timucuas,  tribe,  40. 
Tinne,  see  Athapascas. 
Tiri,  a  deity,  118, 261. 
Titicaca,  Lake,  44, 146, 264. 
Titlacahuan,  a  deity,  241. 
Tlaloc,  a  sacred  hill,  238.  265. 
Tlalocs,  deities,  93,  105,  136,  188, 

189, 215. 

Tlalocan,  105,  111,  287,  293. 
Tlalocavitl,  109. 
Tlapallau,  105, 106. 108, 214. 
Tlalxicco,  in  Aztec  myth,  292. 
Tloque  Nahuaque,  a  deity,  74. 
Tochtli,  the  rabbit,  in  myths,  197. 
Tohil,  a  deity,  189,214. 
Tollan,  see  Tulan. 
Toltecs,  a  mythical  tribe,  42.  57, 

96,  215. 

Tombs,  cruciform,  116. 
Tonacatepec,  100, 106. 
Tonacaquahuitl,  sacred  tree,  114. 
Tonacatecutli,  a  deity,  177,215. 
Tonan,  Our  Mother,  a  deity,  259. 
Tonantzin,  a  deity,  179. 
Tonapa,  a  hero-god,  211,  337. 
Tonatiuh,  a  solar  deity,  167. 
Tonkaways.  tribe,  269. 
Tornarsuk,  a  deity,  227. 
Tortoise,  the  great,  204. 
Tota,  Our  Father,  117,  169. 
Totems  and  totemism,  121,  230, 

270,  298. 

Totonacos,  tribe,  180. 
Tree-burial,  119. 
Tree  of  Life,  118,  217. 
Trees,  symbolism  of,  114,  117  sq. 
Tribal  circle,  the.  116. 
Trinity,  native  American,  84,  187, 

188. 

Tshimshians,  tribe,  239. 
Tulan,   in  Aztec  myth,  105,  106, 

214. 
Tupa,  a  deity,  183,  218. 


Tupis,  location,  46. 

mythology,  77,  101,  147.  183, 

218,  245, 298,  300, 315. 
Tuscaroras,  the,  tribe,  36,  38. 
Tutelary  deity,  the,  77,  89,  173. 
Tutoloes,  tribe,  41. 
Tutul  Xiu,  deities,  96. 
Tuyra,  a  deity,  69. 
Twins,  myths  of,  185, 203,  206, 231. 

sacrifice  of,  333. 
Tzeutals,  tribe,  96, 179,  325. 

Uchees,  tribe,  40,  232. 
Ugalentz,  tribe,  163. 
Ule,  a  deity,  118. 
Unity  of  red  race,  52. 
Unktahe,  deities,  156,  258. 
Uto-Aztecan  family,  42. 

Vase,  symbolism  of.  72,  152.  187, 

210. 

in  burials,  117. 
Viracocha,  a  hero-god,  72,  210  sq., 

264,  335,  241. 
Virgin  goddesses,  118. 

mothers,  172. 
Virgins,  sacred,  172. 
Votan,  a  hero-god,  57,  107, 324. 

Wakan,  name  of  the  divine  among 

the  Dakotas,  62,  88. 
Wakinyan,  deities,  125. 
Wampum,  uses  of,  28,  163. 
War  physic,  the,  138, 140. 

paint,  163. 

Warraus,  tribe,  265,  266. 
Warrior  women,  325. 
Wasi,  a  hero-god,  192. 
Water,  in    myths,    144    sq.,    159, 

227  sq. 
Waters,  god  of,  139,  159,  180,  204, 

231. 

Wauhkeon,  a  deity,  139. 
Weather,  governed  by  the  moon, 

153. 

Week  of  seven  days,  252,  324. 
West,  symbolism  of,  109,  199,  218. 
White,  a  symbolic  color,  97,  165, 

198,  203,  207-209. 
man  in  ancient  America,  215, 

221. 
"  White   towns  "    of    Cherokees, 

208. 
Wind,  as  soul  and  life,  66-69. 


360 


INDICES. 


Wind,    spirits    of    the    cardinal 

points,  92-95. 
Wind-cross,  the,  114-116. 
Winds,  Old  Man  of  the,  115. 

House  of  the,  93. 

the  four,  as  deities,  92  sq. 
Winnebagoes,  tribe,  41,  255. 
Wisakedjak,  a  deity,  202. 
Wisdom,  the  Mother  of,  179. 
Witchitas,  tribe,  262. 
Wolves,  in  myths,  161,  218,  269. 
Women,  as  priestesses,  324. 
World,  creators  of  the,  193,  210. 

end  of  the,  253  sq. 

Sustainer  of  the,  210. 
Writing,  methods  of,  22-26,  343. 

Xblanque,  a  Quiche  deity,  300. 

Xelhua,  a  giant,  265. 

Xibalba,  the  underworld,  81,  292, 

300. 
Ximohuayan,  the   Aztec   Hades, 

293. 

Xochiquetzal,  a  deity,  160,  172. 
Xolotl,  an  Aztec  deity,  299. 


Yahgans,  tribe,  61. 
Yakamas,  tribe,  67. 
Yaotl,  a  deity,  167. 
Yellow,  symbolism  of,  97,  189, 

287. 

Yetl,  a  deity,  240. 
Yoalli  Ehecatl,  a  deity,  67. 
Yohualticitl,  a  deity,  155. 
Yolcuat,  a  deity,  141,  214. 
Yucatan,  natives  of,  42,  87. 

mythology,  97, 114, 173,  249. 


Yuchi,  tribe,  232. 
Yuncas,  tribe,  44. 
Yupanqui,  Inca,  72. 
Yurucares,  the,  tribe,  118,  336,261, 
301. 

Zacs,  the,  43. 

Zamna,  a  culture-hero,  110 
Zapotecs,  tribe,  91. 
Zinzendorf,  anecdote  about,  132. 
Zume,  a  hero-god,  218. 
Zufiis,  the,  tribe,  127, 145, 177,  229, 
238,  258,  319,  324,  326. 


BY  THE  SAME    AUTHOR: 


THE  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA.    (1859.)    Pp.202. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  SENTIMENT :  A  CONTEIBUTION  TO  THE  SCIENCE  or  RE- 
LIGION.   (1876.)    Pp.284. 

AMERICAN  HERO-MYTHS.    (1882.)    Pp.261. 

ABORIGINAL  AMERICAN  AUTHORS.    (1883.)    Pp.  63. 

A  GRAMMAR  OF  THE  CHOCTAW  LANGUAGE.    (1870.)    Pp.  56. 

A  GRAMMAR  OF  THE  CAKCHIQUEL  LANGUAGE.    (1884.)    Pp.  67. 

THE  PHILOSOPHIC  GRAMMAR  OF  AMERICAN  LANGUAGES.    (1885.) 
Pp.  51. 

GENERAL  ANTHROPOLOGY  AND  ETHNOLOGY.    (1886.)    Pp.  184, 
GENERAL  PREHISTORIC  ARCHEOLOGY.    (1887.)    Pp.  116. 
A  LENAPE-ENGLISH  DICTIONARY.    Edited.    (1888.)    Pp.  236. 
LIBRARY  OF  ABORIGINAL  AMERICAN  LITERATURE.   Eight  Volumes. 


I.  CHRONICLES  OF  THE  MAYAS.    Pp.  279.    By  D.  G.  Brinton. 

II.  THE  IROQUOIS  BOOK  OF  RITES.    Pp.  222.    By  Horatio  Hale. 

III.  COMEDY-BALLET  OP  GUEGUENCE.    Pp.  146.    By  D.  G.  Brinton. 

IV.  A  MIGRATION-LEGEND  OF  THE  CREEKS.  Pp.  251.   By  A.  S.  Gatschet. 
V.  THE  LENAPE  AND  THEIB  LEGENDS.    Pp.  262.    By  D.  G.  Brinton. 

VI.  ANNALS  OF  THE  CAKCHIQUELS.    Pp.  234.    By  D.  G.  Brinton. 

VII.  ANCIENT  NAHUATL  POETEY.    Pp.  176.    By  D.  G.  Brinton. 

VIII.  SACEED  CHANTS  OF  THE  ANCIENT  MEXICANS.    Pp.  95.    By  D.  G. 
Brinton. 

RACES  AND  PEOPLES  :  LECTTJBES  ON  ETHNOGRAPHY.    Pp.  313. 
ESSAYS  OF  AN  AMERICANIST.    (1890.)    Pp.  489. 

THE  AMERICAN  RACE :  A  LINGUISTIC  CLASSIFICATION  AND  ETHNOGRAPHIC 
DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  NATIVE  TRIBES  or  AMERICA.    (1891.)    Pp.  392. 

STUDIES  IN  SOUTH  AMERICAN  LANGUAGES.    (1892.)    Pp.  67. 
THE  PURSUIT  OF  HAPPINESS.    (1893.)    Pp.  292. 

THE   NATIVE   CALENDAR   OF  CENTRAL   AMERICA   AND   MEXICO. 
(1893.)    Pp.59. 

NAGUALISM :   A  STUDY  IN  NATIVE  AMERICAN  FOLK-LORE  AND  HISTORY. 
(1894.)    Pp.  65. 

A  PRIMER  OF  MAYAN  HIEROGLYPHICS.    (1895.)    Pp.  152. 

REPORT  ON  THE  COLUMBIAN  HISTORICAL  EXPOSITION  AT  MADRID. 
(1895.)    Pp.70. 


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